f>*l-         S~*  /"VV  T  /"**  /% 

She  CONGO 


B^  JOHN  M,  XPRINGER 


I  LIBRARY 

tMVEftWrr  OP 
CAUFOtNIA 


J 

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LI 


REV.  AND  MRS.  JOHN  M.  SPRINGER 


PIONEERING    IN 
THE   CONGO 


By 
JOHN  McKENDREE  SPRINGER 

Author  of  The  Heart  of  Central  Africa 


THE  KATANGA  PRESS 

150  FIFTH  AVENUE 
NEW    YORK    CITY 


LOAN  STACK 


COPYRIGHT,  1916, 
BY  JOHN  M.  SPRINGER 


SECOND  EDITION 


PRINTED  BY 

THE  METHODIST   BOOK  CONCERN 


-gyms 


THIS  NARRATIVE  IS  WRITTEN  MAINLY  IN  THE  FIRST 
PERSON  SINGULAR,  BUT  ALSO  AT  TIMES  IN  THE 
PLURAL,  AND  IT  HAS  BEEN  WITTINGLY  AND  FIT- 
TINGLY SO  IN  EACH  CASE.  ONE  THERE  IS  WHO 
FOR  MORE  THAN  TEN  YEARS  HAS  SHARED  WITH 
ME  ALMOST  EVERY  THOUGHT,  PLAN,  JOURNEY,  AND 

HARDSHIP,  AS  WELL  AS  EVERY  JOY  AND  RICH 
DIVINE  COMPANIONSHIP  IN  THE  SERVICE  HERE  RE- 
CORDED; AND  SO  FULLY  HAS  HER  LIFE  FLOWED 
OUT  IN  A  RARE  SINGLENESS  OF  DEVOTION  TO  THE 
WORK  WHICH  SHE  CHOSE  TO  SHARE  WITH  ME,  AND 
TO  WHICH  SHE  FELT  ALSO  A  LIKE  PERSONAL  CALL, 
AND  SO  LARGE  HAS  BEEN  HER  PART  IN  THE  PREP- 
ARATION OF  THIS  NARRATIVE,  THAT  SHE  MUST  BE 
RECORDED  AS  JOINT  AUTHOR,  AND  THAT  ONE  IS 

MY  WIFE 
HELEN  EMILY  SPRINGER 


338 


THE  CONGO  MISSION 

IS  AN  ANSWER 
TO 

PRAYER 

BY 
MANY  INTERCESSORS 

MAY  THE  PERUSAL  OF  THIS 
NARRATIVE  INSPIRE  MANY 
OTHERS  TO  PREVAILING 
PRAYER  FOR  THE  EXTENSION 

OF  THE 

KINGDOM 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTEB  PAGE 

INTRODUCTION ix 

I.    THE  FIRST  JOURNEY 1 

II.    STRIKING  THE  TRAIL  AGAIN 12 

III.  KALULUA  TO  LUKOSHI 25 

IV.  BUILDING  AT  LUKOSHI 38 

V.    FURTHER  DEVELOPMENTS  AND  ITINERATING.  ..  62 

VI.    FLOODS  AND  FEVER 68 

VII.    LANGUAGE  STUDY 82 

VIII.    ON  TO  MWATA  YAMVO 97 

IX.    KAFUCHI  TO  MUSUMBA 114 

X.  MUSUMBA  WA  MWATA  YAMVO,  THE  CAPITAL 

OF  MWATA  YAMVO 125 

XI.    AT  MUSUMBA  (CONTINUED) 139 

XII.    LEAVING  MWATA  YAMVO 160 

XIII.  THROUGH  DILOLO 176 

XIV.  A  DELUGE  OF  BELGIANS 195 

XV.    SECOND  SEASON  AT  LUKOSHI 201 

XVI.    THE  EXODUS  FROM  LUKOSHI 213 

XVII.    KAMBOVE 225 

XVIII.    A  NEW  EPOCH 241 

XIX.    THE  CONGO  MISSION  ORGANIZED 260 

XX.    A  BUNCH  OF  OUR  BOYS 279 

XXI.    As  TO  THE  FUTURE 298 

APPENDIX .  313 


vii 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

REV.  AND  MRS.  JOHN  M.  SPBINGEB FRONTISPIECE 

FACING  PAGE 

VILLAINOUS  LOOKING  FERRYMEN 16 

ON  THE  TRACTION  ROAD,  KANSANSHI-BAYA 16 

Fox  BIBLE  TRAINING  SCHOOL,  KALULUA,  1910 26 

A  SITE  CARVED  Our  OF  THE  WILDERNESS 42 

MUSHROOMS 88 

JIM  BAKING  BREAD  IN  CAMP 88 

MR.  AND  MRS.  SPRINGER  ON  WHEELS 88 

DENTISTRY,  AN  INCIDENTAL  PROFESSION 88 

MPERETE'S  VILLAGE  AND  PRESENT 102 

MWATA  YAMVO  IN  MACHILLA 132 

MWATA  YAMVO  AT  THE  EVENING  SERVICE 132 

LUKOSHI  STATION,  1912 208 

KAYEKA  AND  FAMILY 218 

Fox  BIBLE  TRAINING  SCHOOL,  LUKOSHI,  1913 218 

CAPE-TO-CAIRO  RAILWAY  REACHES  KAMBOVE 232 

KAMBOVE  STATION  AFTER  DEPARTURE  OF  TRAIN 232 

DR.  AND  MRS.  PIPER  AT  KAMBOVE 246 

MISSION  HOUSE  AT  MWATA  YAMVO'S 246 

MWATA  YAMVO  AND  A  FEW  OF  His  WIVES 246 

ORE  TRUCKS  FROM  STAR  OF  THE  CONGO  MINE 262 

JACOB  INTERPRETING  AT  RAILWAY  SERVICE 262 

A  SERVICE  IN  COMPOUND  AT  SMELTER 262 

MOTHER  MILLER  AND  WOMEN 262 

THE  HILL  AND  BUILDINGS,  KAMBOVE  MISSION 266 

BISHOP  HARTZELL  AND  MISSION  GROUP,  1915 266 

THE  VICTORIA  FALLS 274 

A  BUNCH  OF  OUR  BOYS 288 

CHURCH,  STATE,  COMMERCE 308 

LIVINGSTONE'S  MONUMENT,  CHITAMBO 312 

MAP  OF  CENTRAL  AFRICA 317 

MAP  OF  CENTRAL  AFRICA  SHOWING  PROTESTANT  MIS- 
SIONS    318 

viii 


INTRODUCTION 
BY  BISHOP  J.  0.  HARTZELL,  D.D.,  LL.D. 

THERE  is  a  new  Africa,  and  a  part  of  the 
world,  especially  the  commercial  interests  of 
Europe  as  well  as  of  America,  have  fully  awak- 
ened to  that  fact.  The  great  missionary  ex- 
plorer David  Livingstone  opened  the  path 
into  and  across  Central  Africa,  and  reported 
to  the  world,  highlands  in  the  interior  with 
salubrious  climate,  and  with  indications  of 
vast  wealth  of  gold,  copper,  and  ivory,  and  the 
possibilities  of  unlimited  water  power,  where 
mighty  rivers  descended  in  magnificent  falls, 
from  the  elevated  watersheds  and  plateaus  of 
the  interior.  After  Livingstone,  came  other 
missionaries  who  confirmed  and  enlarged  the 
report.  Traders  and  prospectors  followed  in 
increasing  numbers,  until  the  discovery  of 
diamonds  at  Kimberley,  of  gold  at  Johannes- 
burg, and  of  gold  and  copper  at  various  other 
parts  of  the  continent,  awakened  the  keen 
interest  of  Europe  and  led  to  more  extended 
explorations.  Then  the  industrial  centers  of 


x  INTRODUCTION 

Great  Britain,  of  Germany,  and  of  France 
were  looking  for  new  markets  for  their  prod- 
ucts, and  a  continent  of  nearly  150,000,000 
people  waiting  to  be  clothed,  appealed  to  the 
imagination. 

The  last  quarter  of  the  past  century  wit- 
nessed a  great  scramble  for  continental 
"spheres"  for  trade  in  this  great  continent. 
Then  in  1884 — at  the  Berlin  conference — 
there  was  a  partition  of  nearly  all  of  the 
12,500,000  square  miles  of  Africa,  among  the 
powers  of  Europe ;  an  arrangement  which  con- 
tinued until  the  war  of  1914.  Traders  have 
pressed  on  into  all  parts,  until  it  is  the  rare 
village  even  in  the  remotest  regions,  where 
cloth  from  Birmingham,  blankets  from  Ham- 
burg, and  beads  from  Vienna  are  not  in  evi- 
dence. The  governments  have  policed  all 
parts  and  have  caused  the  inter-tribal  wars 
to  cease;  have  crushed  out  the  inter- tribal 
slave  traffic,  and  are  making  great  headway 
in  the  ultimate  abolition  of  domestic  slavery 
everywhere.  In  a  little  more  than  a  brief 
quarter  of  a  century  has  been  witnessed  the 
industrial  and  political  occupation  of  prac- 
tically all  of  this  vast  continent.  Christian 
missions  originally  led  in  this  modern  move- 
ment, but  they  have  in  these  later  years  been 


INTKODUCTION  xi 

left  behind,  and  to-day  more  than  half  of  the 
population  of  Africa — more  nearly  three 
fourths — have  never  seen  the  missionary,  and 
are  without  the  privileges  of  the  church  and 
the  school.  v 

But  the  line  of  missions  has  ever  been  slowly 
advancing,  through  the  heroic  faith  and  noble 
consecration  of  men  and  women  called  of  God. 
This  narrative  tells  of  a  notable  advance  of 
missions  in  Africa,  and  any  one  wishing  to 
study  the  details  of  such  progress  will  find 
here  a  mine  of  information. 

The  Kev.  and  Mrs.  John  M.  Springer  have 
been  missionaries  to  Africa  for  fourteen  years. 
It  has  fallen  to  their  lot  to  labor  continually 
in  what  the  world  regards  as  Livingstone's 
country.  Their  first  period  of  nearly  six  years 
was  spent  in  the  gold-bearing  region  of  Manica 
land,  first  spoken  of  by  Livingstone  in  1857, 
and  where,  at  Old  Umtali,  they  were  in  the 
midst  of  the  gold  belt  from  which,  in  all  prob- 
ability, gold  was  taken  nearly  three  thousand 
years  ago  and  shipped  to  Jerusalem  in  the 
ships  of  Hiram  and  Solomon,  for  the  adorn- 
ment of  the  great  temple.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Springer  are  both  of  pioneer  families,  and 
since  their  marriage  in  1905  have  been  one  in 
rare  union  of  endeavor,  devoted  to  exploration 


xii  INTRODUCTION 

and  of  missionary  pioneering.  Probably  no 
other  persons  have  touched  Livingstone's  trail 
at  so  many  and  so  widely  separate  points  as 
they.  In  their  trip  to  the  Zambesi  River  in 
1906,  in  exploring  the  district  of  which  Mr. 
Springer  was  superintendent,  they  came  on 
Livingstone's  trail  along  the  Zambesi  River 
above  the  Kabrabasa  Rapids,  and  followed 
it  down  that  river  four  hundred  miles  to 
Senna,  near  Shupanga,  where  Mary  Living- 
stone's body  rests,  her  grave  cared  for  by  a 
Roman  Catholic  Mission.  Later  that  year 
they  crossed  his  path  at  Victoria  Falls,  where 
were  spent  three  days  in  contemplation  of  that 
marvelous  cataract.  Then,  in  1907,  on  their 
long  journey  to  the  west  coast,  they  started 
from  Broken  Hill,  three  hundred  miles  north- 
east of  Sesheka,  where  Livingstone  started  on 
his  first  great  trip,  and  going  northwest  they 
continually  approached  Livingstone's  trail 
until  they  reached  it  near  Lake  Dilolo,  and 
from  there  to  the  west  coast  for  six  hundred 
miles  followed  it  approximately. 

In  1910  it  was  my  privilege  to  appoint  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Springer  to  the  Lunda  country,  of 
which  Livingstone  wrote  in  his  first  book.  By 
extensive  travel  in  Central  Africa,  they  com- 
pleted the  exploration  of  that  field,  and  in 


INTRODUCTION  xiii 

1913  built  stations  at  two  strategic  centers. 
January  2,  1915,  I  met  with  them  and  others 
in  conference  at  Kambove,  and  organized  the 
Congo  Mission  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church.  We  sat  only  two  hundred  and  fifty 
miles  from  Chitambo  Village,  where  David 
Livingstone,  in  the  heart  of  Africa,  upon  his 
knees,  in  prayer,  commended  his  spirit  to  his 
God  and  entered  into  his  rest.  His  face,  at 
that  very  time,  was  turned  in  the  direction  of 
the  vast  copper  mines,  near  which  we  gathered 
for  this  conference. 

This  small  conference  met  in  council  in  that 
unhappy  interior  land  that  had  been  raided 
by  slavers  from  the  east  and  from  the  west. 
From  the  east  for  decades,  if  not  for  centuries, 
had  come  the  Arabs  with  their  guns,  and  with 
a  force  of  natives  from  near  the  coast,  to  cap- 
ture and  enslave  native  Africans.  The  victims 
were  taken  to  the  neighboring  hills  of  mala- 
chite ;  made  to  smelt  copper  in  crude  furnaces 
still  existing  in  the  country;  loaded  with  ore 
and  marched  to  the  east  coast,  where  copper 
and  slaves  were  sold.  From  the  west  coast  had 
come  native  tribes,  sometimes  alone  and  some^ 
times  headed  by  half-caste  Portuguese  and 
other  degenerate  white  men,  who  had  also 
raided  these  interior  tribes  for  slaves  to  supply 


xiv  INTRODUCTION 

the  North  American  markets,  and  later  to 
supply  laborers  for  the  cocoa  islands  along  the 
west  coast.  Thus  had  the  population  of  the 
interior  been  decimated.  In  the  regions  of 
this  vast  mineral  belt  are  the  tag  ends  of  fifty 
or  more  tribes  that  had  escaped  from  these 
various  raids. 

Livingstone's  great  and  particular  conse- 
cration had  been,  like  that  of  Lincoln's  in 
America,  to  abolish  the  slave  traffic  as  a  neces- 
sary clearing  of  the  ground  for  the  building 
of  the  Kingdom.  It  is  interesting  in  this  con- 
nection to  note  that  at  Sarenge,  near  Chi- 
tambo,  where  the  heart  of  that  great  explorer 
rests  under  a  monument  erected  to  his 
memory,  there  was  established  in  1907  the 
Livingstone  Memorial  Mission.  For  this  pur- 
pose his  nephew,  the  Rev.  Malcolm  Moffat, 
grandson  of  Robert  Moffat,  was  sent  out  by 
the  Free  Church  of  Scotland,  and  in  the  years 
intervening,  between  1907  and  the  Livingstone 
Centennial  in  1913,  Mr.  Moffat  had  been  able 
to  effect  the  translation  of  the  four  Gospels 
into  the  language  of  the  people  of  that  region. 
About  this  same  year  he  was  joined  in  his 
mission  work  by  two  grandchildren  of  David 
Livingstone,  children  of  his  daughter  Anna 
Mary,  who  married  Rev.  Wilson,  a  missionary 


INTRODUCTION  xv 

of  Sierra  Leone.  These  two  are  Hubert  Liv- 
ingstone Wilson,  M.D.,  and  Kuth  Livingstone 
Wilson,  a  trained  nurse,  who  have  joined  their 
cousin  at  this  Livingstone  Memorial  Mission. 

What  a  great  contrast  throughout  that 
country  since  Livingstone's  day.  Here  in  the 
region  toward  which  his  faltering  steps,  broken 
by  the  years  of  racking  fever,  were  headed; 
and  which  he  was  unable  to  reach,  we  now  sat 
in  a  well  appointed  house,  and  I  had  come  into 
that  region  from  Cape  Town,  twenty-five  hun- 
dred miles  from  the  south,  in  a  comfortable 
train  of  European  cars,  with  excellent  dining 
and  sleeping  service.  Throughout  the  land 
government  was  established,  commerce  was 
active,  and  mining  companies  were  spending 
millions  of  dollars  in  development,  and  were 
employing  tens  of  thousands  of  natives.  Medi- 
cal science  was  present,  skilled  surgeons  and 
nurses  were  at  hand,  and  at  Elisabethville  was 
a  well  laid  out  European  town,  with  good 
streets,  electric  lighted  stores,  high  grade  mov- 
ing picture  cinematograph ;  dodging  about  the 
streets  were  motor  cycles,  motor  trucks,  auto- 
mobiles, and  already  the  output  of  the  smelt- 
ing works  supplied  by  three  of  the  mines 
was  fifteen  hundred  tons  of  bar  copper  per 
month.  On  coming  through  Elisabethville  I 


xvi  INTRODUCTION 

could  scarcely  believe  that  only  five  years  be- 
fore, this  town  site  had  been  but  virgin  Cen- 
tral Africa  forest.  Anew  I  was  profoundly 
impressed  with  the  fact  that  the  commercial 
and  industrial  agencies  of  the  world  can  com- 
mand resources  almost  unlimited,  while  the 
Kingdom  of  God  must  plod  along  supplied 
with  only  paltry  sums.  And  then  what  an 
utter  contrast  from  that  early  day  of  Living- 
stone in  the  attitude  toward  the  natives  of 
the  region!  Then  they  were  being  taken  by 
many  thousands  into  hopeless  slavery;  now 
government  and  commerce  were  seeking  for 
the  concentration,  in  this  rich  mineral  region, 
of  tens  of  thousands  of  workmen,  while  this 
mining  company  has  a  large  department, 
which  is  really  a  separate  organization,  whose 
sole  business  it  is,  under  the  management  of 
Mr.  A.  A.  Thompson,  who  took  me  about  in  his 
automobile,  to  secure  an  adequate  number  of 
workmen  for  these  mines.  One  batch  of  six 
hundred  natives,  most  of  them  Mohammedans, 
had  been  brought  from  a  point  one  thousand 
miles  east  on  the  coast  near  Quilimane,  and 
had  been  transported  at  much  expense  by  rail 
through  Beira,  two  thousand  miles,  to  work 
for  a  year  on  these  mines,  and  then  to  be  re- 
turned to  their  homes. 


INTRODUCTION  xvii 

This  suggests  the  relation  of  the  Moham- 
medan world  to  the  interior  of  Africa.  The 
commercial  routes  are  now  open  and  are  being 
extended.  The  rail  communication  is  com- 
pleted with  the  east  coast  right  into  this  in- 
terior region,  and  to  the  north  the  Cape-to- 
Cairo  route  is  nearing  its  completion,  and  soon 
there  will  be  similar  communication  from 
Khartoum;  and  from  Alexandria  on  the  Nile 
and  the  Mediterranean,  both  centers  of  Mo- 
hammedan education  and  propaganda.  Fol- 
lowers of  the  False  Prophet  are  as  alert  in 
these  days  to  take  advantage  of  the  commer- 
cial routes  and  of  railways  to  carry  forward 
their  propaganda,  as  are  commerce  and  Chris- 
tian missions.  To-day  this  interior  region  is 
almost  wholly  virgin  pagan  soil ;  to-morrow  it 
will  be  shot  through  with  Islamism.  How  im- 
portant that  Christian  missions  be  pushed 
rapidly. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Springer,  after  five  years  of 
strenuous  pioneer  work,  were  due  for  fur- 
lough. On  reaching  home,  instead  of  resting, 
they  entered  upon  an  active  campaign  for  se- 
curing additional  funds  for  carrying  forward 
the  work  for  the  next  five  years  in  the  area  of 
the  Congo  Mission.  With  great  faith  they 
blocked  out  the  mission  area  of  four  hundred 


xviii  INTKODUCTION 

miles  square,  in  which  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church  is  the  only  Protestant  society. 
This  is  an  area  the  size  of  Michigan,  Illinois, 
and  Indiana  combined,  and  only  two  stations 
for  this  vast  area!  What  Johannesburg  and 
the  rich  gold  regions  about  it  are  to  South 
Africa,  this  vast  mineral  area  will  be  to  Cen- 
tral Africa,  with  its  unlimited  wealth  of  cop- 
per, iron,  lime,  tin,  and  possibly  of  coal,  gold, 
and  diamonds.  Within  this  vast  area  are  the 
Victoria  falls  of  the  Congo,  and  several  large 
rivers.  The  climate  is  salubrious,  resulting 
from  the  elevation  of  four  thousand  feet  above 
sea  level.  Here  are  to  meet  the  great  conti- 
nental railroad  systems  of  Africa.  Already 
two  of  these  railroad  lines  are  complete,  con- 
necting with  the  south  and  east  coasts  at  six 
different  ports,  and  with  other  lines  under 
construction  connecting  with  the  other  coasts 
of  the  continent. 

There  are  great  benefits  to  the  country  aris- 
ing from  the  presence  of  stable  governments 
and  of  legitimate  commerce  and  industry,  but 
their  presence  alone  does  not  uplift  the  people ; 
there  is  need  also  of  the  third  great  factor — 
the  church  with  the  regenerating  gospel  of 
Jesus  Christ,  which  is  needed  by  the  incoming 
foreigners  quite  as  much  as  by  the  natives  of 


INTRODUCTION  xix 

the  country.  The  best  thought  and  methods 
of  the  church  for  meeting  the  needs  of  the 
people  in  other  lands  are  required  to  solve  the 
problems  arising  from  the  complex  conditions 
found  in  these  new  centers  in  Africa.  The 
beginnings  of  this  mission,  with  the  agencies 
of  school,  book  store,  press,  and  living  evan- 
gels, contain  the  true  hope  for  the  future  of 
this  section,  destined  to  be  the  commercial 
and  industrial  capital  of  all  Central  Africa. 

God  has  wonderfully  led  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Springer  day  by  day  and  year  by  year.  They 
are  one,  in  a  noble  and  effective  consecration 
of  heart  and  faith.  They  believe  that  the  gospel 
which  has  saved  them  spiritually  is  the  funda- 
mental need  of  the  heathen  world,  and  the  one 
weapon  by  which  through  the  Divine  Spirit 
the  Moslem  world  is  to  be  redeemed. 

In  spite  of  discouragements,  frequent  illness 
of  body,  owing  to  unhealthy  climatic  condi- 
tions, they  have  wrought  well.  The  Congo 
Mission  is  the  result  of  five  years  of  unremit- 
ting toil  and  sacrifice,  and  is  a  foundation  well 
laid.  Its  strategic  importance  to  the  multi- 
tudes of  native  barbaric  blacks  in  Central 
Africa  is  very  great,  while  the  importance  of 
its  relations  to  Mohammedanism  in  that  sec- 
tion of  the  continent  cannot  be  overestimated. 


xx  INTRODUCTION 

Another  great  fact  concerning  this  mission 
center  is,  that  as  the  work  among  the  Moslems 
extends  northward  sooner  or  later  it  will 
touch  the  advancing  influences  coming  south- 
ward, of  the  same  type  of  work,  being  carried 
forward  by  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
and  other  mission  bodies  among  the  followers 
of  the  false  prophet  in  North  Africa. 

Twenty  thousand  dollars  a  year  for  the  next 
five  years  put  into  the  work  of  that  Congo 
Mission  would  lay  foundations  permanent  and 
tremendous  in  their  influence  for  the  future 
over  a  vast  area  of  barbaric  and  Mohammedan 
Africa. 

December  3,  1915. 


CHAPTER  I 
THE  FIRST  JOURNEY 

Two  months  after  we  went  into  temporary 
camp  at  the  abandoned  government  post  of 
Kalulua,  a  tall,  lean  Lunda  came  to  us.  He 
did  not  knock,  as  we  had  no  door,  but,  making 
his  presence  known,  told  me  his  story.  He  was 
born  seventy  miles  north  of  where  we  were  at 
that  time,  in  the  Lukoshi  Valley.  When  a  lad 
of  about  ten  or  twelve  years  of  age,  a  band  of 
natives  from  the  Portuguese  territory  of  An- 
gola came  to  the  interior  to  capture  slaves  for 
the  Angola  and  Saint  Thomas  markets.  With 
many  others  Kayeka  was  seized  and  taken 
eight  hundred  miles  west,  where  he  was  sold  to 
a  native  master,  whose  village  was  near  one  of 
the  mission  stations  of  the  American  Board. 
Evidently  Kayeka's  master  was  kind  and  he 
permitted  the  youth  to  attend  the  Mission 
School,  where  he  was  converted. 

Not  long  after  his  conversion  there  came 
upon  Kayeka  a  burden  for  the  salvation  of  his 
people.  He  saw  what  the  Mission  was  doing 
for  the  Umbundu  people  among  whom  he  was 

1 


2  PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

then  living  and  he  began  to  pray  for  a  mission- 
ary for  his  own  tribe.  He  married  a  young 
Christian  girl,  also  a  slave,  owned  by  another 
master,  and  to  them  were  born  four  children 
to  whom,  as  a  good  start  in  life,  they  gave  the 
names  of  Sarah,  Rachel,  Esther,  and  Moses. 

Kayeka's  prayers  so  impressed  the  congrega- 
tion of  erstwhile  Umbundu  slavers  of  his  own 
people  that  they  finally  said  if  he  would  go  as 
a  missionary  to  his  people  they  would  send  him 
his  support  year  after  year.  However,  it  was 
impracticable  for  him  to  go  alone,  and  when 
the  matter  was  presented  to  the  missionaries, 
they  considered  it  carefully,  but  were  obliged  to 
reply  that  it  was  impossible  for  them  to  extend 
their  field  to  the  interior  at  that  time,  and  so 
the  project  had  to  be  abandoned. 

But  Kayeka  kept  on  praying.  Caravans 
laden  with  rubber  were  constantly  returning 
from  the  interior,  many  of  them  from  the 
Lunda  country.  Kayeka  visited  their  camping 
places  at  nights  and  asked  them  about  the  in- 
terior and  particularly  whether  there  were  any 
missionaries  among  his  people.  He  was  always 
answered  in  the  negative. 

Soon  after  the  establishment  of  the  Portu- 
guese Republic,  the  officials  in  Angola  were 
informed  that  they  were  seriously  to  effect  the 


THE  FIRST  JOURNEY  3 

emancipation  of  the  slaves  held  in  the  country. 
However,  Kayeka  seemed  to  consider  himself 
as  beholden  to  his  master  and  he  was  moved 
to  make  this  proposition  to  him.  His  master 
should  furnish  him  with  trading  goods  and  he 
would  go  to  the  interior  and  buy  rubber,  the 
profits  of  the  trip  to  constitute  his  redemption 
price.  To  this  the  master  consented,  and,  leav- 
ing his  wife  and  babies  as  sort  of  hostages, 
Kayeka  left  for  the  interior  early  in  the  year 
of  1910,  probably  not  long  before  the  time  that 
we  left  America. 

He  had  established  himself  at  a  village  one 
hundred  and  fifty  miles  west  of  Kalulua,  and, 
hearing  of  our  arrival  in  the  country,  at  once 
came  to  see  us,  for  while  he  was  endeavoring  to 
secure  his  freedom,  the  main  object  of  his  jour- 
ney to  the  interior  was  to  find  out  the  mission- 
ary prospects  for  his  tribe.  I  was  very  glad 
to  be  able  to  assure  him  that  we  were  appointed 
to  the  Lunda  people  and  that  after  the  rains 
were  over  we  would  advance  into  the  Lunda 
country.  He  told  me  of  the  earnest  desire  of 
his  heart  to  join  in  the  work  of  the  evangeliza- 
tion of  his  people  and  of  his  prayers  for  years 
for  a  missionary  to  come  to  his  people.  When 
I  asked  him  more  particularly  how  long  he  had 
been  praying  for  this  missionary  he  answered 


4  PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

somewhere  between  seven  and  ten  years. 
Thinking  back  to  the  time  when  I  first  felt  a 
definite  responsibility  for  this  interior  part 
of  the  continent,  I  noted  that  it  was  just  seven 
years  previously.  As  this  humble  slave  boy 
stood  before  me  and  told  of  those  years  of 
continued  prayer  for  a  missionary  for  his  peo- 
ple, there  came  to  me  an  overwhelming  con- 
viction that  while  many  others  had  been  pray- 
ing for  the  opening  of  mission  work  in  the 
heart  of  Africa,  he  was  the  instrument  upon 
whom  God  had  laid  the  final  burden  of  im- 
portunate intercession  that  would  not  be 
denied  through  many  years.  I  was  convinced 
that  before  me  stood  the  one  who  had  prayed 
us  into  Central  Africa.  And  when  I  have  since 
recalled  how  time  after  time  in  the  years  1905- 
1906,  in  testing  what  was  increasingly  a  com- 
manding call  to  go  and  explore  that  interior 
part  of  Africa  on  our  way  home  to  the  United 
States  on  furlough,  we  put  it  from  us  over  and 
again  as  an  utterly  impossible  thing  for  us  to 
do,  and  the  conviction  came  back  to  us  each 
time  with  increased  force  until  we  were  im- 
pelled and  compelled  to  make  that  trip  across 
the  continent,  I  have  come  to  understand  that 
it  was  because  this  faithful  pray-er  who  was 
two  thousand  miles  away  on  the  other  side  of 


THE  FIRST  JOURNEY  5 

the  continent  was  holding  on  to  God  in  child- 
like faith  for  his  own  Lunda  people  in  their 
unrelieved  heathen  darkness. 

Kayeka  remained  with  us  two  days  witness- 
ing in  the  villages  about  to  the  saving  power 
of  God  and  then  went  back  to  complete  his 
trading.  He  was  to  bring  in  his  wife  and  chil- 
dren and  join  us  somewhere  to  the  north, 
where  we  would  be  building  a  station  the  next 
year.  We  shall  be  able  to  report  later  the  safe 
arrival  of  Kayeka  and  his  party  in  the  Lunda 
country. 

With  this  party  of  Kayeka's  was  a  young 
man  named  Kaluwasi  of  the  adjoining  tribe  to 
the  east.  Like  Kayeka,  he  was  about  thirty- 
five  or  forty  years  of  age.  He  had  never  been 
a  slave,  but  on  one  occasion,  when  an  Um- 
bundu  group  of  rubber  traders  had  been  in  his 
country,  he  had  joined  them  as  a  carrier  and 
had  gone  to  the  same  part  of  Angola  as  where 
Kayeka  was  living.  Kaluwasi  married  a 
woman  of  that  country  and  settled  near  one  of 
the  Missions.  He  also  had  three  or  four  chil- 
dren. 

On  Kayeka's  return  from  his  rubber  trading 
expedition,  the  news  soon  spread  that  he  was 
to  return  to  his  country,  as  now  there  was  a 


6  PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

missionary  there  to  father  and  protect  him. 
This  news  came  to  the  many  villages  of  Baluba 
in  Angola  and  in  KaluwasFs  village  there  was 
held  a  consultation  which  resulted  in  the  de- 
cision that  one  member  should  go  into  the  in- 
terior with  Kayeka  to  spy  out  the  land  and  the 
conditions  there  and  return  and  report  as  to 
whether  it  were  feasible  for  the  Baluba  to  re- 
turn to  their  country.  These  Baluba  selected 
Kaluwasi  to  be  their  representative  and  told 
him  that  as  he  visited  villages  on  his  journey 
and  would  be  telling  the  gospel  story  they  did 
not  want  him,  their  representative,  sitting  on 
the  ground.  So  he  must  take  a  steamer  chair 
for  such  occasions,  an  article  very  commonly 
used  in  their  Christian  homes  in  Angola. 

Neither  did  they  want  him  to  carry  his  own 
load,  so  they  contributed  a  sum  to  pay  a  carrier 
named  Mbundu  to  accompany  him.  They  re- 
mained with  us  a  month  at  Lukoshi  in  1913, 
and  with  letters  to  government  officials  these 
two  men  started  out  on  their  long  journey  to 
the  north,  and  after  some  weeks  reached  the 
former  home  of  Kaluwasi  on  the  banks  of  the 
Lufungoi  River.  He  found  his  father,  some  of 
his  brothers,  and  a  few  other  near  relatives, 
and  after  spending  two  months  there  came 
down  to  Kambove,  whither  we  had  moved  in  the 


THE  FIRST  JOURNEY  7 

? 

meantime.  When  I  asked  him  about  his  coun- 
try and  whether  there  were  many  people  there, 
he  waved  his  hand  in  the  direction  of  the  trees 
of  the  forest  in  which  we  were  encamped  and 
said  the  people  wrere  many,  many,  like  the  trees 
of  the  forest.  Then  he  told  us  that  when  the 
news  of  his  arrival  had  spread  in  the  villages, 
the  people  came  in  and  listened  to  his  story, 
especially  to  the  message  of  his  conversion  and 
of  the  new  life  in  Christ.  They  kept  him  talk- 
ing throughout  the  hours  of  the  day,  day  after 
day,  new  deputations  coming  and  going.  This 
continued  until  he  was  weary  and  worn  and 
his  voice  completely  gave  out,  and  yet  the  depu- 
tations would  come  in  and  they  would  plead 
for  just  a  few  words.  They  sent  a  message  by 
him  asking  that  a  missionary  be  sent  to  settle 
among  them  and  bring  them  the  blessing  of  the 
Gospel  and  of  education  as  well. 

I  was  most  delightfully  surprised  to  find 
that  Kaluwasi  was  a  mason.  He  was  able  to 
lay  the  brick  house  for  our  residence  at  Kam- 
bove,  thus  earning  money  to  finance  him  on 
his  return  to  Angola  to  bring  in  his  wife  and 
children. 

In  November,  1914,  he  returned  from  Angola 
to  the  Belgian  Congo  at  the  head  of  a  party  of 
four  families  and  from  Bukama  he  sent  a  mes- 


8  PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

sage  to  me  at  Kambove,  but  which  reached 
there  after  my  departure,  asking  if  his  ("my") 
missionary  was  ready  now  to  go  to  his  country 
and  whether  he  should  go  on  and  build  the 
house  and  the  school  so  as  to  be  ready  for  the 
missionary  on  his  arrival. 

These  two  and  their  comrades  are  helpers 
for  our  work  in  the  Congo  Mission  that  have 
come  out  from  the  West,  and  others  are  at 
hand  that  have  come  from  the  East  also. 

In  April,  1914,  I  received  a  telegram  from 
Elisabethville  to  come  down  and  baptize  the 
infant  of  a  Belgian  doctor  there.  I  took  with 
me  a  young  native  evangelist  and  colporteur 
and  left  him  there  to  visit  the  various  mining 
camps,  sell  books,  and  get  acquainted  with  the 
situation  and  report  to  me,  as  I  had  very  little 
time  to  stay  in  Elisabethville  myself.  On  his 
return  he  reported  great  interest  among  the 
young  men,  and  I  later  sent  him  down  on  an- 
other trip  with  additional  books  for  sale.  On 
his  return  on  that  occasion  he  brought  me  a 
petition  signed  by  twenty-four  native  young 
men  from  Nyasaland,  who  were  Christians,  but 
who  had  no  church  privileges  in  Elisabethville. 
They  begged  me  to  come  down  and  organize  a 
church.  In  a  month  or  two  I  was  able  to  get 


THE  FIRST  JOURNEY  9 

away  and  respond  to  their  request.  I  found 
their  leader  to  be  one  named  Joseph  Jutu. 
Just  about  the  time  of  my  visit,  there  had  come 
to  Elisabethville  a  young  man  named  Moses 
Kumwenda,  who  had  been  for  some  years  a 
teacher  and  evangelist  in  the  Presbyterian  Mis- 
sion in  Nyasaland.  Joseph  had  been  at  Elisa- 
bethville for  three  years  or  more.  He  had 
faithfully  gathered  the  men  in  on  Sabbaths, 
and  on  other  occasions,  for  singing,  Bible  read- 
ing, and  prayer,  trying  thus  to  hold  them  true 
to  their  Christian  faith.  He  had  seen  scores 
of  his  former  classmates  swept  away  by  the 
surging  tide  of  temptation  but  had  been  able 
to  hold  a  few  true  to  their  profession.  It  is  not 
to  be  wondered  at  that  so  many  of  these  native 
young  men  had  fallen,  since  the  example  of 
many  of  the  white  men  of  the  country  is  so 
pernicious. 

On  the  arrival  of  Moses,  Joseph  at  once  with 
a  rare  spirit  of  modesty  stepped  back  and  said, 
"You  are  my  senior ;  you  must  lead  us."  Moses 
was  also  of  a  beautiful  humble  spirit  and  tried 
to  decline  and  urged  Joseph  to  retain  the 
leadership  of  the  little  band  in  Elisabethville. 
But  Joseph  insisted  upon  Moses  assuming  the 
position  of  leader.  These  two  men  have 
worked  together  with  a  rare  spirit  of  unity  and 


10  PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

devotion  in  caring  for  the  infant  church  which 
I  organized  there  in  December  of  that  year. 

Our  presence  in  Central  Africa  and  our  asso- 
ciation with  these  young  men  had  come  about 
thus. 

In  1901  I  was  appointed  missionary  to  East 
Africa  and  was  stationed  at  Old  Umtali.  In 
the  party  with  which  I  went  out  was  Mrs. 
Helen  E.  Rasmussen,  who  in  1905  became  my 
wife.  As  I  have  already  indicated,  in  1903  there 
came  to  me  a  very  definite  sense  of  responsi- 
bility for  the  interior  of  Africa,  which  was  but 
the  hinterland  of  the  district  in  Rhodesia  of 
which  I  was  then  superintendent.  After  our 
term  of  six  years  on  the  field,  we  returned  to 
America.  We  came  across  the  continent,  pro- 
ceeding by  rail  via  Bulawayo  and  Victoria 
Falls  to  Broken  Hill  in  northern  Rhodesia,  at 
that  time  the  head  of  the  Cape-to-Cairo  Rail- 
road. On  May  13,  1907,  we  left  Broken  Hill 
with  a  caravan  of  fifty  natives  and,  proceeding 
northwest,  visited  the  mining  camps  of  Kan- 
shanshi,  Kambove,  and  Ruwi,  also  the  mission 
stations  of  the  Plymouth  Brethren  at  Kaleni 
Hill  and  Kavungu,  thence  northwesterly  for 
six  hundred  miles  to  Malange  in  Angola.  Dur- 
ing the  last  stage  of  our  journey  we  saw  no 


THE  FIRST  JOURNEY  11 

white  settlements.  In  this  journey  we  had 
skirted  the  southern  part  of  the  Lunda  field, 
but  were  not  permitted  to  penetrate  the  coun- 
try and  visit  the  town  of  Mwata  Yamvo  be- 
cause of  the  war  which  was  then  being  prose- 
cuted against  the  Waleji  cannibals,  who  had 
come  into  the  country  from  the  north.  Our 
travel  by  native  trail  of  fifteen  hundred  miles 
had  been  through  country  almost  untouched 
by  missionary  effort  and  the  Lunda  field  to 
the  north  of  us,  comprising  a  territory  as  large 
as  the  States  of  Michigan,  Illinois,  and  Indiana 
combined,  had  not  a  single  missionary.  For 
two  years  we  gave  the  message  of  Africa  to  the 
churches  of  America  and  in  1909,  in  connection 
with  the  Africa  Diamond  Jubilee,  pledges  for 
four  thousand  dollars  per  year  for  five  years 
were  made  for  work  in  the  interior  of  Africa. 
On  the  basis  of  these  pledges,  the  Board  of 
Foreign  Missions  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  and  Bishop  Joseph  C.  Hartzell  sent  us 
to  open  the  work  in  the  Lunda  field. 

Leaving  America  in  February,  1910,  we 
spent  three  weeks  in  Sweden,  speaking  in  the 
churches  there  on  our  mission  work  in  Africa, 
and,  returning  to  London,  sailed  for  South 
Africa  and  reached  Cape  Town  in  May,  from 
which  point  we  proceeded  to  the  north  again. 


CHAPTER  II 
STRIKING  THE  TRAIL  AGAIN 

ON  June  2,  1910,  after  three  years'  absence, 
Mrs.  Springer  and  myself  again  arrived  at 
Broken  Hill.  We  found  the  little  depot  in  the 
same  place,  nearly  a  mile  from  the  town. 
There  was  still  but  the  one  hotel ;  this  time  it 
was  run  by  Mr.  Boon  and  had  by  way  of  im- 
provement a  corrugated  iron  dining  room.  The 
sleeping  quarters  were  mud  and  pole  huts  as 
of  yore.  The  rates  of  three  dollars  a  day  also 
remained  the  same.  As  our  purse  was  in  the 
same  state  as  three  years  previously,  we  re- 
mained at  the  hotel  just  one  day  and  then  were 
grateful  for  the  offer  of  an  old,  two-roomed 
mud  and  pole  house  belonging  to  the  mine. 
The  secretary  and  caretaker  of  the  mine  prop- 
erty, Mr.  Teagle,  loaned  us  a  single  cot  bed 
(all  that  he  had  at  his  disposal).  The  cot, 
guiltless  of  a  mattress,  was,  with  two  steamer 
chairs  we  had  brought  with  us,  our  only  furni- 
ture for  some  days.  I  was  able  to  borrow  a 
soap  box  which  we  used  as  a  table,  and  so  we 

12 


STRIKING  THE  TRAIL  AGAIN  13 

began  our  work  again  with  the  simplest  equip- 
ment imaginable. 

We  had  brought  with  us  from  Cape  Town  four 
of  the  boys  whom  we  had  left  in  Angola  with 
Brother  Kipp.  Jacob  (you  will  recall)  had 
been  a  linker-in  on  the  railroad  when  he  first 
came  into  contact  with  us  nearly  four  years 
previously  and,  although  a  man  in  his  twenties, 
his  whole  schooling  up  to  that  time  had  con- 
sisted of  six  months  in  a  village  day  school. 
Three  years  had  done  wonders  for  him  and  I 
was  able  to  use  him  at  once  as  interpreter  and 
evangelist.  The  other  three  boys,  Jim,  Mu- 
sondo,  and  Songoro,  were  less  developed, 
though  useful  with  some  of  the  many  dialects. 

I  found  here  now,  as  previously,  that  no 
Christian  work  was  being  done  for  these  native 
workmen  along  the  railroad  construction,  and 
my  advent  was  hailed  with  great  pleasure  by 
many  of  them.  We  held  services  nearly  every 
evening  through  the  week  and  several  on  Sun- 
day. I  counted  sixteen  tribes  at  one  of  the 
Sunday  services.  More  than  ever  we  were 
convinced  of  the  need  of  workers  for  this  class 
of  natives  and  the  almost  criminal  neglect  of 
the  Church  to  provide  such  for  them.  We 
longed  to  see  the  great  needs  here  met,  but 
could  do  nothing  about  it  ourselves,  as  our  in- 


14  PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

structions  were  to  proceed  at  once  to  the 
Lunda  country  and  we  knew  that  our  work  lay 
there. 

We  were  delayed  a  month  at  Broken  Hill 
getting  our  baggage  from  Cape  Town,  repack- 
ing, and  getting  carriers.  It  is  impossible  to 
mention  a  hundredth  of  the  cases  of  marked 
Divine  providence  that  attended  us  during  the 
following  years.  But  one  case  of  a  caravan 
which  arrived  just  as  I  had  finished  one  lot  of 
packing  is  still  strongly  impressed  on  my  mind. 
This  caravan  was  returning  to  Kaleni  Hill,  ten 
miles  from  Kalalua,  where  we  were  to  spend 
the  next  rainy  season  (though  we  did  not  know 
that  then).  We  did  know  that  they  were 
bound  along  the  same  general  route  that  we 
were  to  take,  and  thanked  God  devoutly  for 
the  chance  to  send  seventeen  loads  right 
through. 

The  month  spent  here  was  a  valuable  one  in 
many  ways.  I  was  thus  enabled  to  reach  and 
get  acquainted  with  some  of  the  natives  work- 
ing on  railroad  construction,  many  of  whom 
I  was  to  meet  nearly  four  years  later  at  Kam- 
bove,  particularly  one  named  Mashona,  who 
had  once  been  a  Christian  at  Bulawayo,  but 
during  the  three  years  among  ungodly  sur- 
roundings along  the  railroad,  had  back- 


STRIKING  THE  TRAIL  AGAIN  15 

slidden.  However,  during  this  time  at  Broken 
Hill,  he  turned  back  to  God  and  was  one  of 
the  first  to  welcome  our  coming  to  Kambove 
and  to  join  our  church  there  and  become  an 
active  lay  worker. 

On  June  29,  at  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon, 
we  trekked  northward  out  of  Broken  Hill  for 
the  second  time,  but  this  time  taking  the  direct 
trade  route.  At  the  last  moment  we  had  the 
first  of  many  disappointments  in  finding  that 
we  were  short  of  carriers  and  fourteen  loads 
must  be  left  behind.  I  sought  out  a  Jew  who 
had  charge  of  certain  lines  of  transportation 
and  arranged  with  him  to  send  our  loads  after 
us.  He  assured  me  that  in  all  probability  the 
loads  would  reach  Kansanshi  a  day  or  so  ahead 
of  ourselves.  Vain  delusion!  Yet  to  leave 
them  with  him  was  all  I  could  do  under  the 
circumstances. 

Our  caravan  was  among  the  last  to  follow 
this  old  trade  route.  Two  reasons  led  to  its 
abandonment.  In  the  first  place  the  railroad 
had  been  constructed  from  Broken  Hill  some 
distance  into  the  Belgian  Congo  and  most  of 
the  passengers  went  that  way.  But  as  the 
construction  company  were  charging  twenty- 
four  cents  a  mile  for  passengers  and  enormous 
rates  for  freight  we  could  not  pay  it.  More- 


16  PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

over,  it  would  still  leave  us  one  hundred  miles 
from  Kansanshi,  at  a  point  where  no  carriers 
could  be  obtained  except  at  impossible  rates 
— and  quite  off  the  main  paths. 

The  other  reason  was  that  this  route  was 
now  attended  with  no  little  danger  from  rob- 
bers. A  certain  white  man  had  trained  a  small 
band  of  natives  to  assist  him  in  the  life  of  an 
outlaw.  The  end  was  that  he  was  murdered 
by  these  same  pupils  who  had  learned  his  les- 
sons too  well.  Knowing  their  fate  if  caught, 
they  had  been  terrorizing  caravans  and  com- 
mitting many  robberies,  especially  in  the  re- 
gion of  the  Lukanga  swamp  where  they  could 
be  successfully  hidden.  Ugly  rumors  were 
afloat  before  we  left  Broken  Hill  and  our  men 
were  none  too  cheerful  about  taking  that  route. 
I  have  never  heard  of  any  other  caravan  taking 
that  route  after  us:  it  is  doubtful  if  carriers 
could  have  been  persuaded  to  go. 

The  rumors  increased  and  so  did  the  anxiety 
of  our  men  as  we  went  along.  For  ourselves, 
we  were  less  concerned,  having  long  since 
learned  how  little  of  such  scare  news  can  be 
believed.  Nevertheless  when  we  reached  the 
Lukanga  swamp  and  were  met  by  the  most 
villainous  looking  lot  of  native  ferrymen  we 
had  ever  seen,  we  felt  that  we  would  rather 


A  VILLAINOUS  LOOKING  LOT  OF  FERRYMEN 
ON  THE  TRACTION  ROAD,  KANSANSHI-BAYA 


STRIKING  THE  TRAIL  AGAIN  17 

deal  with  a  better  class  of  native.  But  here 
we  were  at  the  swamp  and  at  the  mercy  of 
these  men.  So  I  picked  out  two  of  them  and 
arranged  for  them  to  take  us  and  our  loads 
through  the  worst  of  the  swamp  in  their 
canoes.  These  canoes  were  as  unpromising  as 
their  owners.  The  first  one  nearly  sank  at  the 
start  and  I  had  to  get  into  a  second  one,  leav- 
ing my  wife  as  the  only  passenger  in  the  first. 
As  mine  was  plastered  up  with  clay  all  along 
the  side,  I  removed  shoes  and  stockings  so  that 
I  could  wade  or  swim  in  case  the  clay  side 
caved  in.  We  were  nearly  an  hour  going 
through  the  swamp  to  where  we  could  wade 
out  on  the  other  side.  When  all  our  belongings 
were  over,  ten  men  came  up  and  demanded  a 
shilling  each  for  the  work.  This  was  five  times 
the  price  we  should  have  paid,  but  under  the 
circumstances  I  paid  rather  than  get  into  a 
quarrel  at  this  time. 

The  next  day  we  came  to  a  village  from 
which  most  of  the  people  had  fled  and  those 
who  remained  were  about  to  leave  in  terror  of 
their  lives.  From  that  on  the  rumors  grew 
uglier  until  there  could  be  no  doubt  but  that 
there  was  actual  danger  along  that  route.  A 
few  days  later  I  was  at  the  front  of  the  caravan 
and  we  noticed  a  lot  of  vultures  a  little  to  the 


18  PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

left  of  the  path.  Two  or  three  of  my  carriers 
stepped  aside  to  see  what  had  called  the  vul- 
tures and  to  their  horror  they  came  upon  four 
murdered  natives.  They  had  evidently  camped 
at  this  small  stream  and  had  been  murdered 
during  the  night  and  their  loads  seized.  From 
that  time  on  our  carriers  kept  close  to  us  by 
day  and  at  night  slept  all  around  our  tent,  as 
close  as  it  was  possible  to  get,  until  we  reached 
our  last  camping  place  at  the  Mission  occupied 
by  the  Kev.  A.  W.  Bailey,  fourteen  miles 
south  of  Kansanshi.  This  station  of  the  South 
Africa  General  Mission  had  just  been  opened. 
During  our  stay  at  Kansanshi  we  saw  much 
of  our  countryman,  Mr.  Bailey,  whom  we 
found  a  man  after  our  heart  and  a  brother 
indeed. 

On  arriving  at  Kanshanshi,  two  more  disap- 
pointments were  in  store  for  us.  We  found 
that  our  loads  had  not  arrived  and  that  we 
could  get  no  house  in  which  to  stop  while  wait- 
ing for  them.  Thinking  that  it  would  be  but 
a  matter  of  waiting  a  week  at  the  most,  we 
occupied  an  old  abandoned  camp  of  a  char- 
coal burner,  sleeping  in  our  tiny  tent  by  night 
and  living  out  of  doors  by  day.  It  was  very 
cold  and  windy  so  that  conditions  were  ex- 
ceedingly disagreeable  during  the  time  of  our 


STRIKING  THE  TRAIL  AGAIN  19 

stay,  which  eventually  lengthened  into  two 
whole  months. 

The  mining  work  had  gone  ahead  during  the 
three  years  since  our  previous  visit,  and 
already  a  thousand  tons  of  smelted  copper 
were  stacked  up  awaiting  the  arrival  of  the 
railway  to  the  nearest  point  sixty  miles  east 
of  there,  now  called  Baya,  whence  it  could  be 
transported  by  traction  engines.  This  was 
being  done  the  following  year  when  we  passed 
through  Kansanshi  for  the  third  and  last  time. 

One  notable  item  regarding  the  mine  was 
that  much  of  the  smelter  had  been  cast  on  the 
spot.  The  iron  ore  required  was  available 
only  a  few  miles  away,. and  so  nearly  pure  was 
it  that  it  needed  to  go  through  no  preliminary 
purifying  process. 

As  Brother  Bailey  was  doing  the  missionary 
work  at  Kansanshi,  I  did  little  among  either 
whites  or  natives  except  by  means  of  personal 
work.  As  we  were  not  allowed  to  hold  any 
services  in  the  mine  compound,  I  held  them  at 
a  distance  from  the  compound  and  at  our 
camp,  and  many  came  there  to  attend.  A  few 
boys  joined  our  school  and  traveled  west  with 
us  when  we  left. 

The  most  notable  feature  of  our  stay  here 
was  the  inaugurating  of  the  Fox  Bible  Train- 


20  PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

ing  School,  funds  for  building  the  station 
of  which  had  been  given  us  by  Dr.  C.  Vernon 
Fox  and  wife  of  Dakota.  We  started  with 
but  six  pupils,  with  only  the  sky  for  a  roof, 
logs  for  benches,  and  a  very  limited  supply  of 
books.  But  primitive  as  it  all  was,  we  began 
the  next  day  but  one  after  reaching  Kansanshi, 
that  is,  on  July  20,  1910,  and  from  that  day 
this  institution  has  been  meeting  and  will  con- 
tinue to  meet  a  great  need  in  that  section  of 
the  country.  It  is  a  well  accepted  fact  that 
Africa  must  be  evangelized  largely  by  her  own 
people.  Therefore  the  best  work  of  the  mis- 
sionary is  not  preaching — important  though 
that  may  be  and  much  as  he  loves  it — but  in 
preparing  the  natives  to  preach,  to  teach,  and 
to  lead  their  own  people. 

A  week  passed  and  still  no  loads,  so  I  wrote 
to  ask  about  them,  and  when  the  reply  came 
it  bore  the  surprising  information  that  the 
loads  were  still  at  Broken  Hill  and  probably 
would  remain  there  indefinitely.  There  was 
but  one  thing  to  do  and  that  was  to  go  to  rail 
head,  which  was  now  nearly  up  to  the  traction 
road,  running  east  from  Kansanshi,  and  have 
them  sent  by  rail. 

This  I  did,  and  as  the  traction  road  was 
newly  cut  and  not  yet  much  used,  I  shall  never 


STRIKING  THE  TRAIL  AGAIN  21 

forget  the  painful  experience  of  doing  sixty 
miles  on  a  bicycle  in  one  day — my  first  cycling 
for  years.  I  wired  for  the  loads  to  be  sent,  and 
after  some  delay  they  arrived  safely,  and  I  re- 
turned with  them  to  Kansanshi  after  two 
weeks'  absence,  during  which  time  Mrs. 
Springer  had  been  alone  at  our  camp — alone  as 
far  as  white  people  were  concerned.  Shortly 
after  I  left  for  rail  head  two  groups  of  carriers 
arrived  for  us,  one  of  raw  Andembwe  who  had 
never  been  so  far  from  home  before  and  a 
smaller  one  of  Aluena — some  thirty  in  all — for 
her  to  take  care  of  until  I  returned. 

We  were  now  just  three  months  behind  the 
time  we  had  planned ;  this  was  a  serious  mat- 
ter, as  we  might  now  expect  the  rains  any  day. 
These  unexpected  and  unavoidable  delays  had 
given  us  no  little  concern,  but  we  came  to  feel 
that  since  these  delays  were  in  no  part  what- 
ever our  fault,  in  some  way  or  other  the  Lord 
would  provide  for  us  and  our  school  during 
the  rainy  season  so  near  at  hand. 

The  day  before  leaving  Kansanshi  I  had  to 
call  on  the  District  Magistrate,  Mr.  Hazle,  con- 
cerning my  carriers.  In  the  course  of  the  con- 
versation he  asked  me  what  was  our  ultimate 
destination.  I  replied  that  it  was  the  Lunda 
country.  He  then  asked  if  I  had  any  station 


22  PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

prepared  in  which  to  spend  the  rainy  season. 
I  told  him  that  I  regretted  very  much  to  say 
that  I  had  not.  He  then  offered  us  the  use  of 
Kalulua  station  if  it  were  still  standing.  The 
government  had  abandoned  it  some  months 
before  and  he  did  not  know  if  it  had  been 
burned  or  not.  Whereupon  we  thanked  God 
and  went  forward  with  renewed  hope  and  cour- 
age. 

We  left  Kansanshi  on  September  13,  the 
hottest  time  in  the  year,  but  though  the  rains 
were  already  due,  we  had  none  until  two  nights 
before  we  reached  our  journey's  end.  Nearly 
all  of  the  veld  had  been  burned  over  and  the 
very  ground  under  our  feet  was  parched  and 
cracked.  Native  food  was  scarce,  but  at  the 
worst  juncture  I  was  able  to  shoot  a  sable 
antelope  and  thus  furnish  food  for  ourselves 
and  caravan.  I  had  been  fortunate  in  supply- 
ing a  lot  of  meat  to  the  caravan  on  the  traction 
road,  but  game  was  more  scarce  from  this  on. 

Right  here  I  wish  to  say  that  it  has  been 
wonderful  to  us  to  see  how  the  Lord  has  pro- 
vided for  us  at  all  times.  Once  we  had  camped 
too  late  in  the  evening  for  me  to  go  out  hunt- 
ing. The  next  morning  we  had  to  be  on  the 
trail  early,  but  while  the  others  were  breaking 
camp,  I  took  two  men  and  went  down  to  the 


STRIKING  THE  TRAIL  AGAIN  23 

water  hole  to  see  if  I  could  bag  a  pig.  We 
did  not  see  a  thing  and  were  returning  empty 
handed  when  we  saw  that  something  heavy  had 
been  dragged  across  the  path  since  we  came 
out.  We  followed  the  spoor  and  found  a  zebra 
which  a  lion  had  just  killed  and  was  dragging 
along.  Evidently  the  lion  fled  as  he  heard  us 
approach,  and  my  men  raised  a  shout  which 
brought  the  whole  caravan  on  the  run  and  the 
zebra  was  soon  cut  up  and  carried  off.  That 
night  we  had  juicy,  tenderloin  zebra  steaks  for 
our  supper. 

At  another  time  I  had  occasion  for  thanks- 
giving for  quite  another  reason.  I  had  had  to 
walk  along  the  Kansanshi  traction  road  for 
nearly  three  hours  after  dark.  I  was  alone 
with  only  my  bicycle  and  did  not  relish  the 
walk  at  all.  Returning  later  over  the  same 
trail  by  day,  I  found  bits  of  a  zebra  skin,  all 
that  was  left  of  the  poor  beast  that  had  been 
killed  and  eaten  by  a  lion  on  this  same  section 
of  road  over  which  I  had  passed. 

At  Mwinilunga  we  were  most  cordially  and 
hospitably  received  by  the  Commissioner,  Mr. 
Bellis,  who  then  and  ever  afterward  showed 
himself  ready  to  give  us  any  assistance  in  his 
power.  He  was  engaged  in  building  the  new 
government  station  and  assured  us  that  the  old 


24  PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

one  at  Kalulua  was  still  standing  and  would 
provide  us  excellent  shelter  during  the  rains. 

Two  nights  later  we  slept  near  the  source 
of  the  Zambesi  River,  and  the  next  night 
reached  Kaleni  Hill,  where  we  were  once  more 
welcomed  by  Miss  Eileen  Darling  and  her  asso- 
ciate, Miss  Hoyt.  Here  again  we  met  Mr. 
Sawyer  and  Miss  Ing,  who  proudly  introduced 
to  us  the  youngest  member  of  the  Mission,  Miss 
Betty  Sawyer,  five  days  old.  Dr.  and  Mrs. 
Fisher  were  in  Ireland  at  the  time. 

The  next  noon,  October  1,  we  reached  Kalu- 
lua, ten  miles  north  of  Kaleni  Hill,  where  two 
days  later  we  were  joined  by  Mr.  Herman 
Heinkel,  who  was  associated  with  us  for  the 
next  three  and  a  half  years.  We  found  a  set 
of  commodious  buildings  admirably  adapted 
to  our  needs  and,  although  there  were  neither 
doors  nor  windows  on  any  of  them,  we  were 
very  comfortable  there  for  the  next  seven 
months.  Our  later  experience  in  the  building 
of  two  stations  has  accentuated  our  apprecia- 
tion of  this  station  and  our  gratitude  to  God 
for  providing  Kalulua  for  us  at  this  time. 


CHAPTER  III 
KALULUA  TO  LUKOSHI 

THE  very  night  that  Mr.  Heinkel  joined  us, 
the  rains  began  in  dead  earnest  with  one  of  the 
characteristic  thunder  showers  that  seem  to 
rend  heaven  and  earth.  It  is  a  rare  thing  in 
many  parts  of  the  center  of  Africa  to  have  a 
whole  rainy  day:  the  rain  is  poured  out  in 
showers,  and  most  of  them  are  terrific. 

At  Kalulua,  as  at  Broken  Hill,  the  houses 
were  unfurnished,  and  we  had  no  furniture 
except  what  we  could  make  and  that  was  little 
enough.  A  small  table  for  the  dining  room 
wras  made  of  our  provision  boxes;  the  beds, 
chairs,  and  other  furniture  were  largely  made 
of  sticks  and  poles  tied  together  with  bark 
rope.  Yet  we  did  not  have  any  reason  what- 
ever to  complain.  We  were  reasonably  com- 
fortable and  happy  with  the  school  work, 
which  for  the  most  part  occupied  our  attention. 
Connected  with  this  was  the  visitation  of  the 
neighboring  villages  and  the  work  on  new  text 
books  suitable  for  native  use. 

25 


26  PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

In  the  matter  of  food  we  were  far  from  satis- 
fied. The  natives  in  that  vicinity  were  the 
most  shiftless  we  have  ever  seen.  They  be- 
longed to  the  class  aptly  described  as  "having 
nothing  and  wanting  nothing."  Neither  would 
they  work,  so  that  we  had  to  draw  very  lightly 
on  what  European  stores  we  had  and  live 
mostly  on  sour  mush  and  beans,  a  diet  on 
which  we  truly  lived,,  but  did  not  thrive. 

Not  only  was  it  difficult  to  buy  or  obtain 
food  for  ourselves,  but  for  our  boys  as  well. 
More  than  once  we  had  to  pray  earnestly  that 
the  food  would  come  in  and  in  every  instance 
our  faith  was  rewarded.  Mr.  Heinkel  had 
charge  of  the  buying  of  native  food,  and  after 
experience  in  trying  to  buy  in  the  villages,  he 
used  to  say,  "It  is  of  no  use  sending  out  to  buy 
it  but  the  Lord  will  send  it  to  us,"  and  He 
did.  But  even  so,  there  was  very  little  variety, 
and  but  for  the  mushrooms  our  boys  would 
have  fared  ill  also.  In  no  place  that  we  have 
lived  in  Africa  have  we  seen  so  many  and  such 
large  mushrooms  as  grow  around  Kalulua. 
We  tried  to  eat  them  but  were  unable  to  do  so, 
though  the  natives  were  very  fond  of  them. 

But  while  the  ground  at  Kalulua  raised 
enormous  mushrooms,  it  refused  to  raise  any- 
thing else.  We  wasted  a  lot  of  seed  and  labor, 


KALULUA  TO  LUKOSHI  27 

as  had  Mr.  Bellis  before  us,  in  the  effort  to 
have  a  garden,  but  reaped  no  benefits  whatever. 

Once  during  our  stay  at  Kalulua  we  were 
fortunate  enough  to  get  seventeen  carriers  to 
go  down  to  the  railroad  for  supplies  for  us. 
Alas !  After  nearly  three  months  they  returned 
with  ten  loads  for  others  and  only  seven  for  us, 
and  these  were  so  badly  packed  that  there  were 
really  only  about  three  loads  of  provisions  in 
all.  It  was  very  apparent  that  if  we  were  to 
have  inland  stations  we  must  have  someone  at 
the  railroad  who  could  load  caravans  properly 
when  they  were  sent  down. 

We  had  hoped  to  make  some  progress  in  the 
language  as  these  people  glibly  called  them- 
selves Lunda,  but  we  soon  learned  that  they 
were  neither  Alunda  nor  spoke  the  Lunda  lan- 
guage. As  to  their  origin  one  theory  told  us 
later  is  that  they  were  an  offshoot  of  a  lot  of 
Kosa  slaves  who  had  been  brought  by  one  of 
the  former  Mwata  Yamvos  to  work  his  great 
salt  pans  to  the  east  of  Kambove.  They  cer- 
tainly do  not  speak  a  pure  Bantu  tongue.  Dr. 
Fisher  and  other  members  of  the  Garanganze 
Mission  of  Plymouth  Brethren,  however,  have 
made  marked  progress  in  reducing  this  mixed 
language  to  writing  and  in  starting  a  Chin- 
dembwe  literature. 


28  PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

And  now,  as  the  new  year  came  in  and  the 
end  of  the  rains  might  be  expected  in  three  or 
four  months,  we  were  confronted  with  the 
question  of  our  next  move.  Our  understand- 
ing with  Bishop  Hartzell  had  been  for  us  to 
proceed  to  the  Lunda  country  and  this  we  had 
not  yet  reached.  In  no  case  could  we  have 
considered  remaining  at  Kalulua  so  near  to 
Dr.  Fisher's  work,  even  had  this  been  in  the 
Lunda  country.  But  had  we  been  willing  so 
to  do,  it  was  impossible  as  the  buildings  at 
Kalulua  had  been  sold  to  a  Swedish  trader, 
Mr.  Frykberg,  who  came  to  occupy  them  in  the 
latter  part  of  April,  though  he  and  his  wife 
urged  us  most  cordially  to  remain  where  we 
were  and  share  the  station  with  them. 

It  is  hard  for  the  reader  to  realize  how  very 
difficult  it  is  to  get  reliable  information  in 
Africa  except  at  first  hand,  and  sometimes 
difficult  even  then.  We  could  get  very  little 
information  at  Kalulua  concerning  the  Lunda 
country,  so  in  March  I  made  a  trip  to  the 
nearest  important  Lunda  chief  named  Ka- 
zembe.  He  was  a  true  Lunda  though  more 
than  half  his  people  were  not.  He  expressed 
great  pleasure  at  the  prospect  of  having  us 
come  and  settle  near  his  village.  I  then  went 
to  the  nearest  Belgian  post  to  get  the  necessary 


KALULUA  TO  LUKOSHI  29 

permission  to  settle  in  the  country.  They 
could  not  grant  it,  but  sent  me  to  a  second  and 
superior  post,  where  I  was  told  that  I  must 
get  the  permission  from  Elisabethville. 

So  there  seemed  nothing  for  it  but  to  go  in 
person  to  this  capital  of  the  section  of  the 
Congo  known  as  Katanga.  We  built  a  small 
hut  near  a  native  village  four  miles  from  Ka- 
lulua  and  Mr.  Heinkel  and  Jacob  remained 
there  with  our  goods  while  Mrs.  Springer  and 
I  went  to  Elisabethville.  Mrs.  Springer  was 
taken  very  ill  just  before  leaving,  but  Dr. 
Fisher  had  just  returned  to  his  station  and 
he  kindly  came  over  and  attended  her  and  she 
was  seemingly  quite  well  when  we  started. 

And  right  here  I  wish  to  record  our  grati- 
tude and  appreciation  of  all  the  help  and  kind- 
ness shown  us  by  these  our  fellow  workers,  by 
Miss  Darling,  who  had  charge  of  the  station 
during  her  uncle's  absence,  and  by  Dr.  and 
Mrs.  Fisher  after  their  return  during  the  next 
three  years. 

The  one  marked  incident  of  our  three  weeks' 
journey  down  was  a  relapse  of  Mrs.  Springer's. 
She  became  so  very  ill  that  we  had  to  stop  one 
noon  near  a  small  stream  of  water  but  with  no 
villages  for  two  days  ahead,  and  none  near  nor 
behind  us.  The  situation  was  most  serious. 


30  PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

We  could  not  remain  there  long  and  it  looked 
as  if  it  would  be  fatal  to  her  to  go  on.  But 
while  lying  there  on  the  floor  of  the  tent  there 
came  to  her  a  message  as  though  spoken  in  an 
audible  voice,  "Go  on  in  the  strength  of  the 
Lord." 

Our  carriers  on  this  trip  were  of  very  raw 
caliber  and  they  were  the  most  troublesome 
crowd  that  we  ever  had.  Many  of  them  were 
going  down  light  to  bring  back  loads,  and  thus 
a  larger  number  than  usual  were  available  for 
carrying  Mrs.  Springer,  but  the  more  there 
were  the  more  quarreling  there  was  to  see  who 
could  keep  from  carrying  at  all.  Evidently 
each  wished  to  go  along  free  "like  a  gentle- 
man" and  be  paid  at  the  same  time.  I  was 
riding  a  crippled  bicycle,  which  I  could  not 
pedal,  but  by  having  a  boy  push  with  a  long 
stick  from  behind  and  coasting  down  the  hills, 
I  was  relieved  of  a  certain  amount  of  walking. 
But  on  the  traction  road,  beyond  Kansanshi, 
it  was  so  billowy,  as  a  result  of  the  heavy 
traffic,  that  the  strain  broke  the  fork  of  my 
wheel  and  I  had  to  walk. 

The  puffing  of  the  traction  engines  along 
this  road,  in  taking  out  the  thousand  tons  of 
copper,  had  driven  the  deer  and  other  wild 
animals  away,  so  that  where  the  year  before 


KALTJLUA  TO  LUKOSHI  31 

I  had  shot  several  heads  of  game  right  from 
the  path,  we  now  saw  none  from  one  end  of 
the  road  to  the  other. 

The  change  at  Elisabethville  was  indeed 
marvelous.  Only  nine  months  before  I  had 
seen  them  beginning  to  fell  the  trees  for  the 
streets.  Now  we  came  into  a  town  with  twenty 
miles  of  well  laid-out  streets  with  a  population 
of  more  than  one  thousand  Europeans,  living 
for  the  most  part,  at  this  stage,  in  mud  huts, 
wood  and  iron  houses,  and  many  under  buck- 
sails  (water-proof  canvas).  From  being  a 
wilderness  ten  months  before  Elisabethville 
had  leaped  in  one  year  to  the  distinction  of 
being  the  largest  settlement  of  Europeans  in 
the  entire  Belgian  Congo. 

A  large  number  of  brick  yards  were  in  full 
operation  to  supply  material  for  the  many 
excellent  buildings,  public,  private,  and  com- 
mercial, which  were  under  construction. 
Along  the  brow  of  the  hill,  overlooking  the 
Lubumbashi  River,  had  been  laid  out  a  wide 
boulevard  along  which  some  of  the  finest  resi- 
dences were  being  built.  All  these  activities 
were  being  pushed  at  top  speed  to  build  this 
capital  town  of  the  Katanga,  which  is  the 
southeastern  province  of  the  Belgian  Congo, 
including  all  south  of  5°  south  parallel,  and 


32  PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

east  of  the  Kasai  Kiver.  A  very  comfortable 
town  is  the  result,  one  that  would  do  credit 
to  European  countries.  This  was  completed 
at  an  enormous  expense  because  of  the  speed 
with  which  it  was  accomplished  and  because 
of  the  large  demands  for  native  workmen, 
making  wages  very  high.  Portland  cement 
was  used  largely  in  construction,  the  cost  be- 
ing between  six  dollars  and  ten  dollars  per 
hundred  pounds. 

We  pitched  our  own  camp  a  little  outside 
of  the  town  for  two  reasons,  one  being  that  it 
was  much  cheaper  than  stopping  at  hotels,  and 
the  other  so  as  to  be  near  our  carriers  in  order 
to  prevent  their  being  stolen  by  some  contract- 
or in  search  of  laborers,  a  very  common  prac- 
tice throughout  the  country  at  this  time. 

We  were  most  cordially  welcomed  by  Vice- 
Governor  General  E.  Wangermee.  He  later 
invited  us  to  tea  at  the  residency  to  meet  the 
heads  of  the  various  departments  of  the  gov- 
ernment. The  Governor  expressed  his  pleasure 
in  welcoming  us  as  representatives  of  an 
American  Missionary  Society.  He  said  that 
in  Katanga  there  were  now  both  British 
Protestant  and  Continental,  particularly  Bel- 
gian, Catholic  societies.  He  had  asked  the 
Roman  Catholic  authorities  at  home  to  send 


KALULUA  TO  LUKOSHI  33 

out  to  the  Katanga  the  Catholic  society  actu- 
ated by  the  broadest  sympathies,  namely,  the 
Benedictines,  and  it  was  his  wish  that,  while 
each  of  the  societies  should  pursue  the  work 
in  its  own  way,  all  should  work  in  harmony. 

The  Belgian  government  is  most  kindly  in 
its  attitude  toward  the  natives.  It  is  generally 
recognized,  both  by  the  officials  and  the  public 
in  general,  that  now  the  government  errs  on 
the  side  of  too  great  leniency  and  that  in  courts 
and  elsewhere  the  natives  are  given  a  point 
of  vantage  against  the  white  man,  to  the  detri- 
ment of  both.  They  are  seeking  to  correct  this 
tendency  and  to  take  a  medium  attitude. 

With  the  death  of  Leopold,  a  radical  change 
had  taken  place  in  the  administration  of  the 
Congo.  It  is  not  generally  recognized  that  the 
Belgian  nation,  as  a  nation,  was  in  no  sense 
responsible  for  the  former  atrocities.  King 
Leopold,  as  independent  sovereign  of  the 
Congo  Free  State,  and  the  group  immediately 
under  him,  many  of  whom  were  of  other  Euro- 
pean nationalities,  were  alone  responsible  for 
that  terrible  regime.  For  the  credit  of  the 
Belgian  nation,  it  must  be  said  that  during  the 
years  of  his  misrule  there  was  no  greater  oppo- 
sition to  King  Leopold  and  his  methods  any- 
where than  in  his  own  parliament 


34  PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

The  present  King  Albert  is  a  man  of  an  al- 
together different  stamp  from  his  predecessor. 
In  1907,  as  Prince,  he  made  a  journey  across 
the  Belgian  Congo  in  spite  of  the  opposition 
of  his  uncle  and  others.  In  coming  up  from 
Cape  Town  and  through  Ehodesia  and  passing 
through  this  very  region  where  Elisabethville 
was  now  being  built,  he  showed  himself  to  be 
of  a  most  democratic  spirit,  and  frankly  con- 
fessing the  inexperience  of  Belgium  in  colonial 
matters,  sought  advice  in  regard  to  the  admin- 
istration of  natives  from  every  possible  source. 

On  the  evening  of  June  22  we  attended  the 
concert  in  celebration  of  the  coronation  of 
King  George,  the  British  and  Belgians  uniting 
in  the  celebration  as  they  were  united  in  the 
club  and  in  other  activities.  Governor  Wan- 
germee  told  us  later  of  his  desire  that  the  Bel- 
gians should  acquire  the  habits  of  the  British 
and  Americans  in  the  matter  of  recreation  and 
sociability,  as  shown  in  sports  and  clubs,  thus 
securing  among  themselves  greater  unity  and 
effectiveness. 

Happily  our  visit  to  Elisabethville  coincided 
with  the  visit  of  Kobert  Williams,  that  astute 
financier,  in  many  respects  a  successor  to  Cecil 
Rhodes,  but  still  following  distinct  lines  of  his 
own.  In  the  late  90's  he  had  sent  his  prospec- 


KALULUA  TO  LUKOSHI  35 

tors  a  thousand  miles  ahead  of  the  railroad, 
and  in  1900  discovered  the  copper  field  put  on 
the  map  of  Africa  by  Livingstone  in  1857.  By 
marvelous  genius  he  had  interested  millions  of 
capital  in  prospecting  and  then  in  building 
one  hundred  and  twenty  miles  of  the  Cape-to- 
Cairo  Railroad  from  Broken  Hill  to  the  Bel- 
gian border,  from  which  point  a  Belgian  com- 
pany had  pushed  it  forward  to  the  Star  of  the 
Congo  Mine  and  to  the  site  where  the  smelting 
plant  of  that  southern  group  of  mines  of  the 
copper  belt  was  being  built  on  the  Lubumbashi 
River.  Mr.  Williams  was  on  his  first  personal 
visit  to  these  mines  and  witnessed  the  begin- 
ning of  the  smelting  operations.  As  that 
molten  stream  of  copper  began  to  flow,  he 
remarked,  "This  is  the  beginning  of  the  stream 
that  is  to  completely  revolutionize  Central 
Africa."  He  was  most  optimistic  over  the 
development  of  the  mining  operations  and 
looked  forward  eagerly  to  the  completion  of 
the  Benguela  Railroad  direct  from  the  West 
Coast  to  these  mines,  now  completed  over  one 
third  of  the  distance. 

He  knew  of  me,  having  read  my  book,  The 
Heart  of  Central  Africa,  and  was  interested 
and  pleased  that  we  were  beginning  mission 
work  in  the  country  and  promised  cordial  co- 


36  PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

operation  in  our  propaganda.  Mr.  Williams 
made  a  trip  by  caravan  or  "Safari"  to  Kam- 
bove  and  other  copper  deposits. 

Elisabethville  being  the  rail  head,  was  the 
commercial  center  for  all  the  region  hundreds 
of  miles  north.  Messrs.  Ullman  &  Co. 
were  perhaps  the  strongest  group  of  traders 
and  frequently  had  caravans  of  from  three  to 
six  hundred  natives  bringing  in  ivory  and 
rubber  from  the  north.  As  these  raw  Baluba 
marched  down  the  street  to  the  station,  to  the 
strains  of  music  from  their  native  instruments, 
they  presented  a  picturesque  sight  and  created 
great  interest  in  the  town. 

The  extension  of  the  railroad  to  Kambove 
was  just  beginning,  and  thousands  of  natives, 
recruited  from  practically  all  of  the  tribes  in 
every  direction  for  hundreds  of  miles,  were 
concentrated  here  for  work  on  the  mines  and 
on  railroad  construction.  Many  of  them  recog- 
nized me  from  our  meetings  at  Broken  Hill 
and  begged  me  to  stay  and  open  a  school  and 
church.  It  was  a  strong,  attractive  appeal 
and  my  heart  bled  for  them  and  for  the  King- 
dom, as  no  one  would  be  there  for  the  follow- 
ing three  years  to  shepherd  them.  But  the 
Divine  leadings  for  us  were  again  to  go  to  the 
wilderness  and  the  Lunda  Land,  which  also 


KALULUA  TO  LUKOSHI  37 

sorely  needed  us,  and  thither  we  turned  our 
faces  after  this  brief  and  fresh  touch  with 
civilization. 

From  the  well-provisioned  shops  we  were 
able  to  secure  all  our  needed  provisions,  and 
we  loaded  up  some  sixty  carriers,  twenty-five 
of  whom  wre  had  brought  with  us  and  thirty- 
five  of  whom  followed  us  under  the  leadership 
of  our  old  boy,  Jim,  who  has  a  particular  talent 
for  commanding  others. 

The  trip  out  from  Elisabethville  was  with- 
out particular  incident  except  for  the  deser- 
tion of  some  ten  carriers  in  all,  but  on  some 
of  these  occasions  other  natives  traveling 
empty  handed  came  along  and  helped  us  on 
our  way.  On  several  occasions  I  had  to  draw 
on  Mrs.  Springer's  machilla  carriers,  thus 
making  it  necessary  for  her  to  walk  a  large 
part  of  the  day,  which  was  very  trying  on  her. 
The  new  sprocket  wheel  on  my  bicycle  soon 
went  wrong  and  I  had  a  wheel  that  was  free 
both  ways  and  which  frequently  needed  to  be 
beaten  before  it  would  catch  again.  For  days 
we  passed  along  a  country  rich  in  deposits  of 
iron  of  excellent  purity. 

After  twenty-six  days  of  tedious  marching 
we  reached  the  village  of  Kazembe  on  the 
Lukoshi  Kiver  where  we  were  to  build. 


CHAPTEE  IV 
BUILDING  AT  LUKOSHI 

THE  one  word  that  is  preeminently  before 
our  minds  whenever  the  name  of  Kazembe  or 
the  station  of  Lukoshi  is  mentioned  is  the 
one  so  often  used  by  the  natives  to  describe 
their  own  strongest  feelings — "hunger." 

The  day  before  we  arrived,  we  walked  a 
weary  twenty  miles  and  then  found  that  the 
village  where  we  had  hoped  to  find  food  was 
abandoned,  and  our  carriers  had  to  go  to  bed 
hungry  and  start  out  hungry  the  next  day.  I 
encouraged  them  by  the  assurance  that  we 
would  reach  Kazembe's  in  the  afternoon  and 
that  then  there  would  be  enough  to  fill  their 
empty  stomachs.  I  noticed  that  they  did  not 
seem  very  enthusiastic  over  the  prospect  as  I 
naturally  thought  they  would  be,  but  I  had  to 
learn  from  months  of  sad  experience  what  my 
carriers,  whose  homes  were  less  than  100  miles 
away,  knew  already — that  food  was  always 
scarce  around  Kazembe's. 

We  walked  into  Kazembe's  village  about 

38 


BUILDING  AT  LUKOSHI  39 

three  o'clock  on  July  26,  1911,  hot,  dirty, 
dusty,  and  very  weary.  The  chief  came  out 
and  gave  us  a  hearty  welcome  and  so  did  his 
people  and  we  were  exceedingly  thankful  to  be 
at  the  end  of  our  toilsome  trip  covering  two 
months.  We  hastily  picked  out  a  site  to  camp 
under  a  clump  of  trees  not  far  from  the  village 
and  then  expected  that  the  chief  would  appear 
with  the  customary  present  of  meal  and  fowls. 
I  told  him  that  my  men  were  hungry  and  that 
I  wanted  to  buy  food  for  them,  but  beyond  a 
few  sweet  potatoes,  no  food  came. 

The  next  day  the  chief  brought  me  a  small 
present  of  meal  and  two  small  fowls,  and 
explained  that  his  was  a  new  village  and  the 
people  all  had  their  gardens  some  distance 
away  so  he  could  only  bring  a  small  present 
at  that  time.  He  said  that  he  had  sent  out 
word  far  and  near  for  his  people  to  come  and 
bring  food,  so  that  in  a  day  or  two  there  would 
be  much ;  all  of  wThich  I  believed. 

Not  so  my  carriers.  I  had  engaged  most  of 
them  to  stay  and  work  for  me  a  month  and 
thus  help  build  the  station.  Several  of  them 
were  to  work  two  or  three  months.  But  with 
the  exception  of  four  they  all  absolutely  re- 
fused to  stay,  saying  that  if  they  did  they 
w^ould  starve  to  death.  In  vain  I  quoted  Ka- 


40  PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

zembe's  assurances,  but  they  knew  the  facts 
of  the  case  and  taking  their  pay,  cleared  out 
as  fast  as  their  legs  could  carry  them. 

Then  we  began  looking  for  a  site  for  the 
Mission.  Kazembe  was  emphatic  in  wishing 
us  to  build  close  to  his  village.  But  it  was 
evident  that  he  had  built  too  near  the  river, 
in  a  most  unhealthy  location.  So  we  chose  the 
best  site  in  all  that  locality,  which  was  on  the 
other  side  of  the  Lukoshi  River  nearly  a  mile 
away.  The  next  rainy  season  proved  the  wis- 
dom of  our  choice,  for  the  river  rose  to  the  very 
edge  of  his  village  and  flooded  the  lowlands 
all  around,  so  that  Kazembe  himself  had  to 
move  to  higher  and  dryer  ground. 

I  had  first  visited  Kazembe  on  the  25th  of 
March.  The  chief  and  his  people  had  expressed 
themselves  as  very  keen  to  have  us  come  and 
live  among  them.  I  told  the  chief  then  that 
there  would  be  obligations  on  the  part  of  him 
and  of  his  people  if  we  did  come.  I  explained 
that  it  would  be  necessary  for  them  to  sell  me 
food  and  to  furnish  me  carriers  for  the  neces- 
sary transport  connected  with  a  mission  sta- 
tion, for  all  of  which  there  would  be  adequate 
compensation.  They  agreed  readily  and  prom- 
ised all  most  heartily. 

I  now  told  Kazembe  that  I  must  have  some 


BUILDING  AT  LUKOSHI  41 

carriers  to  go  the  seventy  miles  to  Kalulua  for 
loads;  lie  said  I  should  have  them.  Neverthe- 
less, they  did  not  appear  and  in  the  end  I 
had  to  go  out  and  recruit  the  men  myself,  and 
it  was  with  considerable  difficulty  that  I  finally 
got  our  loads  from  even  that  short  distance. 
I  was  to  learn  that  in  the  matter  of  carriers 
the  chief  had  really  little  or  no  power  at  all. 

The  next  day,  August  1,  we  cut  the  first  trees 
and  proceeded  to  put  up  a  rude  shelter 
from  the  midday  sun,  particularly  for  Mrs. 
Springer.  Mr.  Heinkel  and  I  were  necessarily 
employed  in  the  open  all  day  long.  In  fact,  an 
event  occurred  a  month  later  which  made  it 
necessary  for  one  of  us  to  go  out  to  the  villages 
miles  away  to  buy  food  to  keep  our  boys  from 
starving. 

I  told  Kazembe  that  I  must  have  men  to  help 
build  the  station.  He  said  he  would  bring 
some  the  next  day.  So  about  ten  o'clock,  Ka- 
zembe and  ten  men  arrived  and  began  to  cut 
down  the  trees  about  three  feet  from  the 
ground.  I  told  him  that  I  did  not  want  all 
the  trees  cut  indiscriminately,  but  that  I  did 
want  those  which  were  cut  to  be  cut  properly. 
Bo  they  worked  a  couple  of  hours  and  then 
said  it  was  time  to  quit  and  go  home.  The 
next  day  I  said  that  we  would  give  them  their 


42  PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

lunch  so  that  they  could  work  longer,  but  the 
chief  said  he  never  ate  in  public  like  common 
people,  and  the  only  way  that  he  would  eat  at 
all  was  behind  some  bushes  shielded  by  an  um- 
brella. Even  though  he  and  his  men  ate  lunch, 
they  soon  stopped  work  and  went  back  to  the 
village  and  we  saw  that  that  plan  would  not 
work.  I  told  Kazembe  to  tell  his  men  to  come 
early  in  the  morning  and  for  each  to  bring  a 
good  pole  for  building  along  with  him. 

But  all  our  efforts  to  get  any  real  labor  out 
of  the  men  of  the  village  were  in  vain.  They 
could  not  be  persuaded  to  do  more  than  two 
or  three  hours'  work  in  a  day,  and  after  three 
days  they  intimated  that  a  present  would  be 
very  acceptable.  In  fact,  they  expected  more 
than  the  customary  wages  for  a  full  day's  work 
for  the  small  amount  they  had  been  doing. 
They  were  not  satisfied  with  their  "present" 
and  Kazembe  found  that  official  business  re- 
quired his  attention  in  his  village. 

Then  I  went  out  into  the  villages  and  at  last 
hired  ten  men  to  come  and  work  for  a  month. 
They  had  worked  a  week  when  Kazembe  and 
several  of  his  followers  passed  through  our 
grounds  one  morning  stating  that  he  had  to 
"sit"  on  a  case  in  one  of  the  villages  about  nine 
miles  away ;  a  case  in  which  he  was  personally 


BUILDING  AT  LUKOSHI  43 

interested.  The  chief  is  the  judge  in  this  coun- 
try, so  in  this  case — as  is  not  infrequent — 
Kazembe  was  both  judge  and  defendant.  He 
asked  me  for  a  present  of  a  certain  kind  of 
cloth.  I  did  not  have  what  he  wanted,  but 
he  finally  saw  a  red  bandana  handkerchief 
and  wanted  that.  He  took  it,  snatched  the  hat 
from  off  the  head  of  one  of  my  boys,  put  the 
red  handkerchief  around  the  hat  and  went 
away  laughing,  as  we  thought  because  he  con- 
sidered his  getting  the  hat  as  a  good  joke.  We 
learned  later  that  the  wearing  of  the  red  was 
his  way  of  declaring  war,  for  before  the  day 
was  done  he  had  shot  down  his  enemy  and 
that  whole  section  of  country  was  in  a  state 
of  war.  As  one  of  our  ten  workmen  was  a 
son  of  the  murdered  man,  and  the  others  were 
relatives  or  subjects,  they  were  horror  stricken 
and  overwhelmed  with  grief  at  the  dastardly 
deed  and  went  back  to  mourn  and  to  fight,  if 
need  be.  So  again,  we  were  left  with  no  work- 
men except  our  own  small  force. 

The  very  first  day  that  we  moved  to  our 
mission  site,  while  yet  everything  was  in  con- 
fusion, Sanyangala  brought  a  native  visitor 
to  me  saying  that  he  was  a  Lunda  proper  and 
spoke  the  Luunda.  So  we  immediately  sat 
down  on  a  fallen  log  and  worked  out  a  trans- 


44  PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

lation  of  a  Chindembwe  hymn  into  the  Luunda, 
sung  to  the  tune  of  the 'Sweet  By  and  By.  It 
was  the  first  hymn  ever  translated  or  written 
in  the  Lunda  language  and  has  always  been 
very  popular. 

Linguistically,  Kazembe's  village  was  a  sort 
of  half-way  station  between  the  Lunda  and 
Chindembwe  languages,  for  which  the  Congo- 
Zambesi  Divide  was  the  boundary  line,  just  as 
it  is  between  Northern  Rhodesia  and  the  Bel- 
gian Congo.  In  the  northwestern  section  of 
Northern  Rhodesia  the  language  is  Chin- 
dembwe, though  it  has  been  considered  as 
Lunda  by  many  Europeans  and  is  loosely  so 
called  by  the  people  themselves. 

The  confusion  in  the  name  of  the  language 
has  arisen  evidently  from  the  fact  that  the 
once  powerful  Lunda  chief,  Mwata  Yamvo, 
conquered  the  Andembwe  and  incorporated 
them  into  the  Lunda  Empire  and  they  were 
called  Lunda. 

Very  probably  the  conquering  warriors  re- 
mained in  the  land  and  took  the  Andembwe 
women  as  their  wives.  But  in  all  lands  the 
speech  of  the  mothers  becomes  the  speech  of 
the  children  and  so,  in  this  case,  it  is  the  Chin- 
dembwe, and  not  the  Lunda,  which  has  been 
perpetuated. 


BUILDING  AT  LUKOSHI  45 

At  Lukoshi,  as  in  many  other  villages  of  the 
Belgian  Congo  just  within  the  border,  the  men 
were  mostly  Alunda  and  these  spoke  and  un- 
derstood the  Lunda  language.  But  their  wives 
were  largely  Andembwe  and  the  common 
speech  was  rapidly  becoming  Chindembwe. 
Many  of  the  children  were  quite  unable  to 
understand  their  fathers'  language,  though 
they  held  the  Luunda  in  high  esteem  and 
admiration  and  considered  it  a  marked  accom- 
plishment to  be  able  to  speak  it. 

The  European  governments  have  greatly 
modified  the  nature  and  extent  of  native  rule. 
So  while  the  Andembwe  in  Rhodesia  still  say 
that  Mwata  Yamvo  is  their  chief,  they  no 
longer  pay  him  any  tribute  or  give  him  any 
service  nor  have  any  vital  connection  with 
him  whatever.  There  is  a  stronger  bond  be- 
tween the  Andembwe  subjects  in  the  Congo, 
but  they  are  so  far  away  and  have  so  little  to 
fear  from  failure  to  obey  his  commands,  that 
they,  too,  fail  to  meet*  any  of  the  demands  of 
their  paramount  chief.  Kazembe,  although 
ruling  chief  of  this  Lukoshi  province  of  the 
Lunda  kingdom,  for  several  years  now  had 
failed  so  far  to  send  a  present  or  tribute  to 
Mwata  Yamvo,  which  tribute  was  formerly  re- 
quired annually. 


46  PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

At  Kalulua,  since  we  did  not  come  in  con- 
tact with  any  natives  speaking  the  Lunda  lan- 
guage, we  were  not  able  to  do  any  language 
work.  Here  we  found  the  Luunda  quite 
generally  understood  and  spoken  by  the  older 
people,  so  we  were  able  to  enter  with  vigor  at 
once  into  the  reduction  of  this  language  to 
writing. 

The  building  of  a  mission  station  means 
more  than  the  putting  up  of  poles  and  plaster 
and  getting  roofs  over  heads.  It  means  estab- 
lishing and  advancing  every  phase  of  mission 
work. 

Two  days  after  our  arrival  at  Lukoshi,  a 
very  surprising  and  important  incident  oc- 
curred which  meant  much  to  our  new  mission 
and  to  one  of  our  boys.  The  reader  will 
perhaps  remember  the  two  boys,  Kitchen  and 
Songoro,  of  whom  I  told  in  The  Heart  of  Cen- 
tral Africa.  These  two  boys  went  across  with 
us  to  Angola,  where  they  remained  in  school 
for  nearly  three  years.  At  the  end  of  that 
period,  we  had  them  sent  by  boat  to  Cape 
Town,  as  it  was  not  safe  at  that  time  to  send 
them  back  alone  across  country  by  trail.  As 
we  mentioned  previously,  we  met  them  in  Cape 
Town  and  took  them  along  with  us. 

The  youngest  of  the  four  boys  was  Songoro, 


BUILDING  AT  LUKOSHI  47 

a  lad  of  stormy  temperament,  who  was  most 
devoted  at  times  and  at  others  sullen  and  very 
trying  to  handle.  During  our  year  at  Kan- 
sanshi  and  Kalulua,  Songoro  was  a  veritable 
thorn  in  the  flesh.  Most  of  the  time  found  him 
in  a  darkly  sullen  mood,  obstinate  as  a  donkey. 
He  protested  against  staying  any  longer  in 
school  and  his  one  cry  was,  "I  want  to  return 
to  my  own  people.  I  have  not  seen  them  for 
many  years." 

I  finally  told  him  that  when  we  went  to 
Elisabethville,  I  would  take  him  along  and 
then  he  could  go  on  another  three  hundred 
miles  and  visit  his  own  people.  When  we  got 
there,  he  said  that  he  would  not  go  home 
empty  handed,  but  wished  to  work  and  earn 
money  so  that  he  could  take  plenty  of  presents 
with  him.  I  told  him  that  he  was  free  to  do 
as  he  wished,  and  that  if  he  ever  desired  to 
return  to  the  school  he  would  be  welcome.  He 
sullenly  declared  that  he  never  intended  to 
come  to  school  again — never. 

So  we  had  to  leave  him.  We  knew  that  much 
of  his  restlessness  was  due  to  his  age  and  hoped 
that  when  the  period  of  adolescence  was  passed 
he  might  repent  and  return.  Musondo, 
"Kitchen,"  did  not  wish  to  leave  the  school, 
but  said  that  he  felt  that  he  must  stay  with  his 


48  PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

brother  Songoro.  Therefore  we  left  the  two 
of  them. 

It  was  now  the  third  day  of  our  camp  at 
Lukoshi,  and  just  after  lunch  I  asked  Mrs. 
Springer  if  she  wished  to  go  down  with  me  to 
the  river'  where  it  would  be  necessary  to  put 
a  second  bridge,  and  where  now  there  was  a 
tree  felled  across  on  which  it  was  possible  for 
the  natives  to  cross,  although  it  was  under 
water  and  very  slippery  and  dangerous. 

As  we  came  through  the  thick  jungle  to  the 
river  bank,  the  boys  who  were  with  us  ex- 
claimed in  one  breath,  "Songoro!"  I  looked, 
and  there  on  the  other  side  was  Songoro  in- 
deed. He  hastily  let  himself  down  the  steep 
bank  and  began  to  dip  up  the  water  in  his  hand 
to  slake  his  thirst.  He  was  hot,  dusty,  and 
very  tired,  and  so  overcome  with  emotion  that 
he  could  hardly  speak.  Later  on  in  the  cool  of 
the  day  when  he  had  eaten  and  rested  he  told 
me  his  story. 

He  said  that  after  we  left  Elisabethville  he 
got  work  as  a  table  waiter  in  a  good  family 
and  thought  he  would  be  happy.  But  one  night 
there  came  to  him,  as  of  an  audible  voice,  the 
question,  "Songoro,  what  is  this  you  want? 
You  want  money.  When  you  get  the  money 
and  buv  a  box  and  fill  it  full  of  clothes  and 


BUILDING  AT  LUKOSHI  49 

blankets  and  everything  you  want,  what  then? 
What  will  all  these  things  profit  you  if  you 
lose  your  own  soul  thereby?  Your  place  is 
with  your  teacher  in  the  Mission  school,  not 
here." 

He  could  not  get  away  from  this  thought. 
He  felt  that  if  he  stayed  in  Elisabethville  he 
would  lose  his  soul,  and  he  suddenly  discovered 
that  that  was  the  one  thing  that  he  wanted 
most  to  save.  He  went  up  to  Musondo  and 
said,  "Musondo,  I  want  to  go  back  to  Mr. 
Springer."  Musondo,  who  had  left  on  Son- 
goro's  account,  was  in  no  mood  to  listen  now 
to  his  sudden  resolve  to  return. 

"Give  me  my  money,"  said  Songoro,  for  he 
had  asked  Musondo  to  keep  some  of  his  wages 
which  I  had  paid  him.  Musondo  refused. 

"Give  me  my  blankets,"  he  demanded.  Still 
Musondo  refused. 

Waiting  until  Musondo  was  busy  on  some 
errand  for  his  new  Belgian  master,  Songoro 
found  his  blankets  hidden  in  the  master's  bed- 
room and,  taking  them,  left  the  house,  setting 
his  face  toward  the  west.  He  could  not  follow 
us,  as  we  had  taken  a  route  unknown  to  him, 
a  path  entirely  within  the  Belgian  Congo,  so 
he  started  back  by  the  way  he  had  come. 

At  the  traction  road  he  asked  a  white  man 


50  PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

for  work  on  one  of  the  engines,  telling  him 
who  he  was  and  where  he  was  going. 

"All  right,  I  will  let  you  work  on  my  engine 
to  Kansanshi.  I  know  Mr.  Springer,  for  I  am 
an  American  too,"  said  he.  So  this  man  from 
Port  Huron  gave  the  boy  work  during  the  five 
or  six  days'  journey  to  Kansanshi,  and  then 
gave  him  ten  shillings  to  buy  food  the  rest  of 
the  way ;  a  truly  generous  act. 

At  Kansanshi  Songoro  joined  the  post 
boys,  but  before  very  long  his  money  was  gone. 
What  should  he  do?  He  asked  his  Heavenly 
Father  to  feed  him.  The  next  day  as  he  was 
going  along  he  smelled  meat  and  leaving  the 
path  soon  found  a  dead  animal  that  Dr.  Fisher 
had  shot  a  few  days  before,  but  had  not  been 
able  to  find.  He  cut  up  the  animal  and  carried 
away  all  the  meat  he  could  stagger  under,  and 
was  able  to  exchange  this  in  the  villages  for 
meal,  and  thus  he  was  provided  with  food  until 
he  reached  Mr.  Heinkel,  near  Kalulua,  when 
he  was  all  right  again. 

There  was  no  doubt  in  our  minds  as  to  Son- 
goro's  conversion.  He  was  a  new  boy  indeed. 
He  would  always  be  impulsive,  but  he  became 
a  true  follower  of  the  Master.  When  he  was 
baptized  we  gave  him  the  name  of  Peter,  which 
character  he  so  much  resembled. 


BUILDING  AT  LUKOSHI  51 

This  story  would  be  incomplete  without  an- 
other reference  to  Musondo.  He  stayed  in 
Elisabethville  and  lost  his  soul.  We  have 
never  seen  him  since.  But  we  have  reports  of 
him  that  show  that  he  fell  before  the  tempta- 
tions of  that  wicked  town. 


CHAPTER  V 

FURTHER  DEVELOPMENTS  AND 
ITINERATING 

FOR  the  first  week,  we  looked  with  hopeful 
hearts  for  the  meal  which  Kazembe  said  he  had 
sent  for  and  which  he  daily  expected  to  arrive. 
It  never  came  and  we  have  a  strong  suspicion 
that  when  meal  did  come  in  from  his  villages 
Kazembe  kept  it  for  his  own  use.  We  had  not 
been  there  long  before  we  learned  that  food 
was  indeed  scarce. 

Food  we  must  have  for  our  own  boys  and  for 
the  four  extra  workmen  who  had  stayed  with 
us.  It  is  customary  to  ration  the  natives  two 
pounds  of  meal  a  day,  with  beans  or  something 
as  a  relish  to  eat  with  the  mush  that  is  cooked 
therefrom.  So  while  we  had  a  small  force  of 
about  a  dozen  boys,  twenty-four  pounds  of 
meal  a  day  soon  made  a  big  hole  in  a  bag. 

All  our  buying  here,  as  elsewhere  in  the 
interior,  has  to  be  done  by  barter  and  no  one 
who  has  not  had  experience  can  believe  how 
much  trouble  this  is.  In  the  first  place  styles 

52 


FURTHER  DEVELOPMENTS  53 

change  among  the  natives  as  they  do  in  the 
home  lands.  It  may  be  all  the  rage  to  wear 
white  calico  or  white  beads  one  year  and  the 
next  they  cannot  be  given  away.  And  we  suf- 
fered much  during  our  first  few  months  at 
Lukoshi  because  we  did  not  have  the  latest 
styles  in  beads  and  cloth.  This  is  particularly 
interesting  when  the  calico  was  not  worn  for 
warmth  and,  as  far  as  we  could  see,  scarcely 
any  of  it  was  on  show.  Most  of  it  seemed  to 
be  used  to  pay  up  debts,  fines,  etc.  But  what- 
ever use  the  natives  made  of  it,  our  trade  cloth 
did  not  suit  them  and  they  would  not  bring 
food  to  buy  it. 

So  after  Mr.  Heinkel  finally  reached  Lukoshi 
with  the  last  of  our  loads,  I  decided  to  take 
some  of  our  boys  and  go  out  into  the  surround- 
ing villages  and  buy  food,  thus  getting  ac- 
quainted with  the  people  and  the  country  at 
the  same  time.  I  had  to  go  at  least  ten  miles 
to  find  any  quantity  of  food,  which  meant  that 
I  had  to  stay  over  night  in  every  case.  We 
were  too  short  of  boys  for  me  to  take  along  a 
tent  and  it  is  not  safe  to  sleep  in  native  houses 
as  they  are  infested  with  a  species  of  tick 
called  a  tanpan.  The  bite  of  this  tanpan 
causes  a  low  and  obstinate  type  of  fever  which 
is  far  more  serious  than  malaria.  So  I  slept 


54  PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

out  in  the  open,  usually  under  the  native 
granaries  where  I  was  exposed  to  the  malarial 
infected  mosquito,  not  to  mention  other  physi- 
cal discomforts.  I  succeeded  in  getting  a  little 
meal. 

We  had  brought  one  goat  with  us,  Nannie, 
who  had  trotted  along  the  trail  with  the  cara- 
van for  two  weeks.  Then  one  day  Kazembe 
came  over  and  presented  us  with  a  young  Billy. 
As  we  wTere  accepting  his  present,  we  heard  a 
snort  and  there  stood  Nan  on  the  top  of  an 
anthill  looking  down  with  wrath  in  her  eyes. 
No  sooner  was  the  unfortunate  little  beast  tied 
to  a  tree  than  she  set  upon  him.  Fearing  that 
she  would  kill  him  were  he  left  tied,  we  let  him 
loose  and  for  about  three  days  the  two  fought 
as  only  goats  can  fight.  Billy's  horns  bled  and 
he  must  have  had  the  headache  many  a  time, 
but  he  had  plenty  of  grit  and  finally  Nan  ac- 
cepted him  as  a  friend  and  comrade.  Which 
was  quite  otherwise  with  the  sheep. 

One  day  Kanuka  brought  a  half-starved 
sheep  to  us  to  sell.  He  said  it  was  so  poor 
because  they  had  had  to  keep  it  in  for  fear 
gome  of  their  enemies  would  steal  it.  Under 
any  other  circumstances  than  the  ones  we  were 
in,  I  should  never  have  dreamed  of  buying  it. 
But  he  assured  me  that  it  would  soon  begin 


FURTHER  DEVELOPMENTS  55 

to  fatten  on  the  new  grass  which  was  coming 
on  and  so  I  bought  it. 

But  that  sheep  was  the  biggest  fool  I  have 
ever  seen.  It  would  not  stay  near  the  goats 
and  it  was  an  hour's  job  every  night  to  get  it 
into  the  goat  house  for  the  necessary  safety. 
We  had  that  sheep  for  more  than  a  month  but 
never  succeeded  in  teaching  it  anything. 
Neither  did  it  fatten.  Also  it  took  to  wander- 
ing off  by  itself. 

One  day  about  five  o'clock,  Mr.  Heinkel  said 
to  one  of  the  pickaninnies,  "You  go  now  and 
bring  in  the  sheep."  He  started  rather  unwill- 
ingly, though  he  was  the  best  of  them  all  at 
getting  hold  of  its  long  rope  and  bringing  it  in. 
Soon  the  other  boys  who  were  thatching  on  the 
roof  said  that  the  boy  had  called  for  help.  As  it 
was  quite  a  common  thing  to  need  two  or  some- 
times three  to  get  that  sheep  home,  another 
boy  was  detailed  to  help  him. 

Then  there  came  another  yell  and  the  boys 
said  that  there  was  a  leopard,  so  a  dash  was 
made  toward  the  river,  taking  our  guns  along. 
We  found  the  two  boys  in  trees,  but  no  sign 
of  the  leopard  and  not  much  left  of  the  sheep. 
Financially,  that  sheep  was  a  dead  loss :  but 
as  a  valuable  illustration,  we  never  had  a  bet- 
ter one.  The  most  willful  boy  could  not  refrain 


56  PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

a  grin  when  that  fool  sheep  was  brought  to  his 
mind.  We  never  regretted  the  money,  though 
it  was  hard  to  lose  it  at  the  time. 

On  August  29  came  the  shooting  of  Nya- 
hamba  by  Kazembe  to  which  I  have  already  re- 
ferred. The  incidents  and  causes  of  the  shoot- 
ing dated  back  a  few  years  to  a  time  when  one 
of  Nyahamba's  wives  ran  away  from  him  and 
appealed  to  Kazembe.  She  stated  her  grievance 
and  Kazembe  told  her  to  remain  in  his  village 
and  he  would  settle  the  matter  with  Nya- 
hamba. 

When  Nyahamba  came  to  get  his  wife,  a 
lengthy  palaver  followed  and  in  the  end  Ka- 
zembe demanded  of  Nyahamba  a  fine  of  two 
guns  and  two  slaves  to  be  paid  over  in  order 
to  get  his  wife  back.  The  price  was  exorbitant 
in  the  extreme,  but  it  was  the  only  way  that 
Nyahamba  could  get  possession  of  his  truant 
wife  and  so  he  paid  it.  But,  as  Uncle  Eemus 
says  of  Brer  Kabbit,  he  laid  low.  Nyahamba 
was  a  Chokwe  and  the  Chokwe  were  not  used 
of  late  years  to  taking  orders  from  the  Lunda, 
but  since  they  were  in  the  minority  in  this 
section  they  thought  it  wise  to  submit  for  the 
time  being. 

Now  it  came  to  pass  that  about  the  time  we 
arrived  at  Lukoshi,  one  of  Kazemba's  young 


FURTHER  DEVELOPMENTS  57 

men  was  strolling  along  the  path  to  a  village 
beyond  Nyahamba's  with  a  rooster  under  his 
arm,  probably  for  barter.  On  the  way  he 
passed  through  some  gardens  belonging  to 
Nyahamba's  wives  and  being  hungry  he  did  a 
very  unusual  thing :  he  dug  up  a  small  cassava 
root  and  began  to  eat  it  as  he  went  along.  The 
root  was  not  worth  more  than  half  a  cent  and 
the  lad  went  on  merrily  without  a  shadow  of 
concern. 

But  here  was  the  chance  that  Nyahamba 
wanted  to  start  a  quarrel,  and  he  demanded 
the  rooster  in  payment  of  the  cassava  root, 
since  it  had  been  stolen,  not  bought.  Of  course 
the  youth  roundly  refused  to  pay  a  hundred 
times  as  much  as  the  root  was  worth,  but  Nya- 
hamba  insisted. 

Finally  seeing  that  there  might  be  serious 
consequences,  the  youth  said,  "All  right,  here 
is  the  cock  and  the  matter  is  settled.7' 

"Not  so,"  said  Nyahamba.  "If  you  had  paid 
in  the  first  place,  it  would  have  been,  but  you 
have  waited  so  long  and  given  so  much  cheek 
that  now  you  must  pay  four  pieces  of  calico  of 
eight  yards  each."  The  native  word  for  one  of 
these  pieces  is  a  chilala. 

Then  the  matter  had  to  go  to  Kazembe  and 
nearly  a  month  was  spent  in  sitting  on  the 


58  PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

case.  In  matters  of  this  kind,  the  native  will 
not  be  hurried.  He  loves  to  indulge  in  long 
oratorical  and  dramatic  speeches.  And  in  this 
case,  no  sooner  did  Kazembe  agree  to  settle  the 
case  at  one  figure,  than  Nyahamba  put  up  his 
price  until  at  length  he  had  made  a  demand 
for  three  guns  and  two  slaves.  The  reader  will 
note  now  that  he  was  getting  back  what  he 
had  had  to  pay,  with  interest.  And  from  this 
figure  he  absolutely  refused  to  budge. 

So  when  Kazembe  found  that  he  must  pay 
this  sum  in  order  to  settle  the  matter  at  all 
amicably,  he  took  his  men  and  went  out  to  the 
village  nearest  Nyahamba's  where  again  there 
was  a  palaver.  At  last  Nyahamba  got  up  in 
disgust  to  leave  for  his  own  village,  when 
Kazembe's  men,  in  accordance  with  previous 
orders,  fired  a  cowardly  shot  into  his  back,  and 
he  fell  dead. 

Then  Nyahamba's  people  demanded  the  life 
of  the  man  who  shot  him  and  the  whole  coun- 
try was  up  in  arms  for  nearly  a  month  or  more 
until  at  last  the  remnants  of  Nyahamba's  small 
village  moved  away.  But  for  a  year  or  more 
Kazembe's  people  were  afraid  that  Nyaham- 
ba's  brother  would  return  and  avenge  his 
death.  And  he  may  do  this  even  after  ten  or 
twenty  years. 


FURTHER  DEVELOPMENTS  59 

I  have  gone  into  the  details  of  this  case  as 
it  is  such  a  typical  one  of  that  section  of  coun- 
try. 

The  following  Sunday  after  we  had  had  our 
service  in  his  village,  every  man  with  his  gun 
in  his  hand  to  prevent  surprise,  Kazembe 
launched  into  a  long  and  heated  defense  of  his 
action,  stating  that  he  had  acted  judicially 
"after  the  manner  of  their  custom  since  they 
left  the  capital  of  Mwata  Yamvo."  This  made 
our  food  question  worse  than  ever,  since  we 
had  been  getting  our  meal  from  these  Chokwe 
villages  some  ten  miles  to  the  north,  and  now 
we  were  shut  off  from  them. 

From  the  time  of  our  arrival  we  had  heard 
of  the  great  quantities  of  food  at  Ifunda, 
thirty-five  miles  to  the  southwest.  So  Mrs. 
Springer  and  I  decided  to  make  an  evangelistic 
trip  there  and  buy  meal  at  the  same  time. 

Since  we  could  get  no  carriers,  Mrs. 
Springer  had  to  walk,  and  as  she  developed  a 
very  sore  toe  from  a  jigger  under  the  nail,  when 
at  the  farthest  point  away  from  home,  she  had 
a  hard  time  walking  back,  and  it  took  a  whole 
month  after  her  return  for  the  toe  to  heal. 

We  found  several  large  villages  among 
which  was  one  whose  chief  was  called  Mpumba. 
He  was  a  true  Lunda  and  the  Luunda  was  the 


60  PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

common  speech  of  his  people.  We  very  much 
enjoyed  a  night's  stay  at  his  large  village.  We 
bought  several  bags  of  meal  there,  and  all  day 
and  late  into  the  evening  there  was  a  crowd 
around  our  tent  all  keen  to  give  us  Luunda 
words,  hear  what  we  had  to  say,  learn  our  one 
or  two  hymns  in  Luunda,  and  in  every  way 
show  us  all  courtesy  and  friendliness.  We 
went  away  with  the  mental  picture  of  swarms 
of  little  children  who  might  be  won  to  God, 
the  songs  of  women  pounding  their  meal,  men 
weaving  baskets  and  making  fish  nets,  and  of 
the  merry  little  stream  through  which  we 
gladly  waded  on  that  hot  September  day  be- 
fore we  could  reach  the  village.  We  had  sel- 
dom seen  a  village  which  so  attracted  us  as 
this  one,  with  its  kindly-faced  chief  and  the 
gladsome  ring  of  childish  laughter  throughout 
the  place.  It  is  such  scenes  as  this  which  make 
the  passing  traveler  feel  that  the  heathen  are 
always  happy  and  laughing  and  glad,  and  that 
they  do  not  need  the  gospel.  There  is  quite 
another  side  which  we  saw  at  this  same  village 
just  a  year  later — quite  another  side,  indeed. 

On  this  trip,  we  came  across  a  group  of 
women  at  one  of  the  rivers.  They  were  gather- 
ing large  quantities  of  a  certain  weed,  which 
they  were  burning  to  get  salt  from  the  ashes. 


FURTHER  DEVELOPMENTS  61 

Salt  is  very  scarce  in  this  section  of  the  coun- 
try, but  even  when  they  can  buy  salt  easily, 
the  natives  like  that  which  comes  from  these 
weeds,  as  it  combines  other  chemicals  as  well. 
This  weed  grew  in  the  marshy  land  along  the 
river.  There  is  a  weed  in  the  rivers,  not  unlike 
seaweed  in  appearance,  which  they  also  gather, 
dry,  and  burn  for  the  salt. 

While  we  were  wonderfully  pleased  with  our 
visit  to  Mpumba,  we  were  equally  disappointed 
in  our  visit  to  Katarurnba,  who  proved  to  be 
a  Chokwe  chief  with  a  great  many  Luena  peo- 
ple in  his  large  village.  He  had  just  moved 
to  a  new  site  and  so  his  people  had  very  little 
food  at  hand  to  sell.  We  had  passed  his  old 
village  and  noticed  that  it  had  beeji  heavily 
stockaded.  Katarumba  was  an  old  slaver  and 
took  no  chances  on  a  surprise  from  his  foe. 
He  was  on  the  very  border  of  the  Portuguese 
territory  and  had  done  a  flourishing  business 
in  slaves  and  rubber.  He  was  drunk  the  day 
we  got  there,  and  from  his  appearance,  I 
should  judge  that  that  was  a  chronic  condition 
of  many  years'  standing.  He  looked  to  be  and 
undoubtedly  was  an  old  villain. 

This  section  of  country  is  called  Ifunda.  It 
derives  its  name  from  the  prevalence  of  a  cer- 
tain kind  of  jungle  thicket  so  dense  as  to  be 


62  PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

impassable  unless  a  path  is  cut  through.  This 
kind  of  country  is  wonderfully  adapted  to  the 
raising  of  cassava  and  to  guerilla  warfare.  It 
suits  the  slave-raiding  and  outlaw  chiefs  and 
their  people  to  a  nicety.  But  as  one  travels 
through  that  dense  forest,  it  does  not  take  a 
very  vivid  imagination  to  feel  that  every  mile 
is  marked  with  tragedy,  murder,  and  pillage. 
It  is  a  dark  jungle  for  dark  men  of  dark  deeds. 

I  should  have  liked  to  remain  on  the  station 
and  expedite  the  work  there,  for  the  rains  were 
already  due  and  our  house  was  building  very 
slowly.  But  the  need  for  carriers  and  for  food 
necessitated  my  making  another  trip,  this  time 
into  Angola,  in  Portuguese  territory. 

Kazembe  gave  me  Chidiani,  whom  he  called 
his  nephew,  but  who  we  learned  a  year  later 
was  only  his  slave,  to  go  with  me  to  tell  the 
men  in  the  villages  to  go  and  carry  for  me. 
Chidiani  declared  that  he  was  equal  to  any- 
thing and  started  out  with  a  great  show  of 
pomp  and  power.  When  we  came  to  a  village, 
we  would  sit  down,  and  after  the  preliminaries 
were  over  I  would  call  on  Chidiani  to  give  the 
chief's  message.  With  much  oratory  he  would 
then  tell  the  men  assembled  that  the  chief  said 
that  they  were  to  furnish  me  carriers.  Then  the 
local  head  men  would  begin  to  tell  of  the  work 


FURTHER  DEVELOPMENTS  63 

that  each  and  every  man  in  the  village  had  on 
hand  and  at  the  end  Chidinai  would  give  me 
a  hopeless  look  and  say,  "You  see  how  it  is. 
There  is  no  hope  here:  we  must  go  on  to  the 
next  town."  The  ultimate  result  was  that  we 
got  no  carriers.  Chidiani  as  a  recruiting  agent 
was  worse  than  useless. 

One  reason  for  the  failure  to  get  carriers  at 
this  time  was  that  there  were  several  circum- 
cision camps  in  progress  along  this  route. 

Among  the  Alunda,  as  among  many,  if  not 
most  other  Bantu  tribes,  there  is  a  very  rigid 
custom  of  circumcision.  Until  after  this  cere- 
mony, the  boys  are  not  allowed  to  eat  with 
their  elders  nor  enjoy  many  other  associations 
which  markedly  belong  to  adults.  After  this 
ceremony  they  are  considered  full-fledged 
adults  and  permitted  to  take  their  places  at 
the  counsels  and  other  notable  occasions  of 
village  life. 

Once  a  year  all  the  boys  between  twelve  and 
fourteen  years  of  age  are  gathered  approxi- 
mately a  mile  or  so  from  the  village — far 
enough  to  ensure  seclusion  and  near  enough 
to  facilitate  feeding  them — and  are  kept  in 
these  camps  about  a  month.  During  this  time 
they  have  a  course  of  lectures  by  their  elders 
and  some  of  the  instruction  is  very  good,  deal- 


64  PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

ing  as  it  does  with  the  responsibilities  they 
will  have  as  members  of  the  tribe  and  family. 
There  are  other  features  which  are  less  bene- 
ficial and  some  that  are  exceedingly  perni- 
cious. We  find  that  many  of  the  boys  are 
quite  willing  and  even  prefer  to  have  this  rite 
done  by  a  Christian  physician,  and  certainly 
this  is  far  better  for  the  boy. 

On  my  stumbling  on  a  circumcision  camp 
one  evening,  the  boys  fled  precipitately  and  I 
was  asked  by  the  older  men  who  were  in  charge 
to  retire,  as  visitors  were  not  allowed.  Women 
also  are  rigidly  excluded  from  these  camps 
until  after  the  camp  is  broken  up,  when  the 
whole  village  celebrates  with  an  all  night's 
dance. 

On  this  trip  I  decided  to  press  on  south 
across  the  national  boundary  between  the 
Congo  and  Angola,  formed  by  the  Congo- 
Zambesi  watershed.  Eight  in  the  northeast 
corner  about  ten  miles  from  both  the  Congo 
and  Khodesian  borders  was  a  little  trading 
post  called  Mbumba.  Two  years  previously 
there  had  been  some  fourteen  stores  in  this 
place  and  I  thought  that  possibly  I  might  be 
able  to  buy  some  trading  goods  there.  But  I 
now  found  only  two  traders  left  and  they  were 
doing  very  little  business. 


FURTHER  DEVELOPMENTS  65 

A  few  years  previously  there  had  been  an 
area  of  perhaps  about  one  hundred  and  fifty 
miles  square,  including  the  three  corners  of 
Northern  Rhodesia,  Angola,  and  the  Belgian 
Congo,  which  was,  to  all  intents  and  purposes, 
no-man's  land.  There  was  rubber  in  this  sec- 
tion, though  most  of  it  was  found  in  the  Congo 
section.  However,  the  natives  from  Angola 
and  Ehodesia  went  up  there  and  gathered  their 
rubber  and  then  went  over  to  the  Portuguese 
and  sold  it.  The  natives  told  me  that  they 
had  until  recently  found  there  a  market  for 
slaves  as  well,  and  that  seems  to  be  pretty  well 
authenticated. 

But  in  1907,  Major  Boyd  Cunningham  on 
behalf  of  the  Tanganyika  Concessions  Limited, 
a  prospecting  company  for  minerals,  had 
opened  up  a  transport  route  twelve  hundred 
miles  in  length  between  Benguella  on  the  west 
coast  and  Ruwi  on  the  Lualaba  River,  and 
had  brought  in  several  ox-wagon  loads  of 
goods,  machinery,  and  supplies  from  the  west 
coast  following  approximately  the  old  slave 
trail  most  of  the  way.  The  Britishers  had 
made  it  hot  for  any  Portuguese  caught  with 
slave  caravans  and  put  a  greater  damper  on 
that  nefarious  business. 

But  in  1909-1910  there  was  a  tremendous 


66  PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

boom  in  rubber,  and  although  it  was  illegal  to 
export  rubber  from  either  Khodesia  or  the 
Congo  without  paying  export  duty,  neither  of 
these  sections  had  come  under  the  control  of 
their  respective  governments,  and  the  natives 
poured  in  a  stream  into  Mbumba  and  the 
Portuguese  traders  there  flourished. 

But  there  had  come  officials  into  this  corner 
and  a  slump  in  rubber  into  the  outside  world 
so  that  by  this  time,  1911,  the  rubber  trade  was 
very  low  indeed,  and  the  two  Portuguese  trad- 
ers left  at  Mbumba  scarcely  made  a  living,  if 
they  did  that. 

This  no-man's  land  has  not  to  this  day  been 
thoroughly  administered  by  the  three  govern- 
ments concerned,  least  of  all  by  the  Portu- 
guese, and  the  process  will  be  necessarily  a 
slow  one  though  we  are  glad  to  report  progress. 

At  first,  the  natives  were  determined  not  to 
be  under  the  control  of  Europeans.  They  pre- 
ferred their  accustomed  methods  of  living,  pre- 
carious as  they  were.  So  when  the  British 
official  tried  to  register  his  people,  they 
skipped  over  the  border  into  the  Congo. 

Pretty  soon  the  Belgian  official  came  along 
and  as  soon  as  they  got  wind  of  his  coining, 
back  they  scooted  into  Khodesia.  Then  when 
these  two  governments  began  to  cooperate  and 


FURTHER  DEVELOPMENTS  67 

the  nets  were  more  tightly  drawn  around  the 
natives,  they  decided  that  Angola  was  the  land 
of  freedom  and  moved  over  there. 

This  suited  the  Angola  natives  to  a  nicety. 
When  any  of  them  had  a  debt  to  pay  with 
slaves,  they  simply  raided  the  villages  of  the 
new-comers  and  took  some  of  these  people, 
either  holding  them  to  be  ransomed  at  an  enor- 
mous price  or  selling  them  outright. 

So  there  has  steadily  grown  the  idea  that 
it  is  better  to  live  in  Ehodesia  and  enjoy  a 
measure  of  security  and  pay  a  tax  of  ten  shil- 
lings a  year  than  to  live  in  Angola  and  never 
know  what  is  going  to  happen  next. 

We  found  that  Kazembe  and  his  people  had 
never  paid  any  taxes  and  they  were  very  appre- 
hensive of  the  day  when  they  would  have  to 
do  so.  They  were  casting  about  for  some 
method  whereby  they  could  enjoy  the  protec- 
tion of  the  Belgians  without  paying  their 
taxes. 

What  a  wild  and  woolly  country  this  no- 
man's  land  was  as  it  unfolded  itself  before 
our  eyes  and  to  our  better  understanding ! 


CHAPTER  VI 
FLOODS  AND  FEVER 

THE  first  shower  struck  Lukoshi  on  the  29th 
of  September,  and  although  we  had  pushed 
our  building  operations  as  rapidly  as  our 
crippled  condition  would  allow,  we  were  still 
in  tents  and  unprepared  for  the  rainy  season. 

Mrs.  Springer  and  Mr.  Heinkel  were  on  the 
station  on  that  date  and  I  had  gone  to  a  group 
of  villages  to  the  north  to  get  more  meal.  I 
had  slept  on  the  ground  that  night  under  a 
granary  and  fortunately  for  me,  being  ten 
miles  away,  we  got  only  the  tail  end  of  the 
shower. 

When  I  reached  home  the  next  afternoon,  I 
found  my  wife  sitting  amidst  dire  confusion 
on  our  veranda  among  boxes  and  chairs.  It 
was  not  exactly  an  ideal  picture  of  "Home, 
Sweet  Home,"  but  we  both  were  thankful  that 
at  least  the  roof  was  on  and  that  it  was  fairly 
water-tight.  And  I  was  glad  to  undress  and 
get  into  a  bed  that  evening  even  though  it  was 
made  on  a  pile  of  grass  in  the  corner  of  the 

68 


FLOODS  AND  FEVER  69 

bedroom  on  the  floor.  After  all  it  might  have 
been  worse. 

For  a  week  the  air  had  been  very  sultry  and 
there  had  been  mutterings  of  thunder  all 
around  us  so  that  we  had  expected  rain  any 
day  or  night,  and  had  got  the  most  of  our  loads 
in  under  the  roof  on  the  back  veranda. 

On  this  day  it  had  been  particularly  sultry, 
and  when  Mrs.  Springer  and  Mr.  Heinkel  had 
their  four  o'clock  tea,  a  welcome  and  really 
necessary  bit  of  refreshment  in  that  climate, 
they  spoke  of  the  probability  of  a  shower ;  but, 
after  all,  it  seemed  less  likely  that  one  would 
occur  than  it  had  for  a  week,  so  no  further 
preparations  were  made  for  it. 

At  five  o'clock,  however,  it  began  to  sprinkle, 
but  in  such  large  drops  that  there  was  no 
reason  to  suppose  it  would  amount  to  any- 
thing. Mrs.  Springer  went  over  to  the  little 
shelter,  but  in  a  few  minutes  it  began  to  drip 
like  a  sieve,  so  she  went  to  our  tent  and  had 
hardly  got  inside  before  a  tropical  tornado 
burst  on  the  place  in  all  its  fury. 

The  tent  rocked  and  swayed  before  the  wind 
and  streams  of  water  began  to  trickle  in 
through  the  holes  that  had  been  eaten  out  of 
the  roof  by  the  mischievous  crickets.  The 
thunder  and  lightning  were  terrific  and  hail 


70  PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

pelted  noisily  on  the  steel  poles.  The  daylight 
had  suddenly  been  swallowed  up  in  the  black- 
ness of  the  storm,  and  then,  as  another  wave 
of  angry  tempest  surged  from  the  northeast, 
the  tent  was  lifted  as  by  the  hands  of  a  mighty 
monster  and  then  collapsed,  burying  Mrs. 
Springer  under  its  wet,  clammy  folds. 

"I  concluded,"  she  remarked  humorously, 
"that  it  was  about  time  for  me  to  be  moving, 
so  I  crawled  out  as  best  I  could  from  under 
the  wet,  heavy  folds  of  the  tent  and  made  a 
bolt  through  the  downpour  for  the  house 
several  yards  distant.  Here  I  found  Mr. 
Heinkel  and  all  the  boys  looking  for  all  the 
world  like  so  many  wet  chickens  standing  on 
one  foot  after  being  caught  in  a  shower." 

It  was  quite  dark  already,  only  relieved  by 
the  blinding  flashes  of  lightning.  It  had 
grown  very  cold  too  during  the  hailstorm.  The 
collapse  of  the  tent  and  the  sudden  fury  of 
the  storm  had  caused  her  to  go  out  without 
first  getting  a  wrap  and  she  thought  she  would 
go  inside  the  house  to  see  if  it  was  warmer 
there.  Alas !  we  had  not  yet  filled  in  the  floors 
on  the  inside  of  the  house  nor  dug  a  drain 
ditch  at  the  back,  so  she  stepped  into  six  inches 
or  more  of  icy  water  which  did  not  add  to  her 
comfort. 


FLOODS  AND  FEVER  71 

After  another  half  hour  the  storm  abated  a 
trifle  and  Mr.  Heinkel  was  able  to  get  to  a  bale 
of  trading  blankets  which  they  gratefully  used 
to  wrap  around  themselves.  There  wasn't  a 
dry  chip  nor  a  dry  piece  of  wood  in  the  house, 
but  about  seven  o'clock  the  fury  of  the  storm 
had  passed  over  so  that  the  boys  wrere  able  to 
cast  about  and,  in  spite  of  wet  wood,  to  make 
two  fires,  one  in  each  bedroom.  It  was  neces- 
sary for  them  to  occupy  our  bedroom  that 
night,  and  as  Mr.  Heinkel's  tent  was  flooded 
and  his  bed  soaking  wet,  for  him  to  occupy  the 
other.  At  eight  o'clock  Mrs.  Springer's  tent 
was  set  up  again  and  the  middle  of  her  bed 
was  found  to  be  dry.  They  had  some  smoky 
tea  by  an  awfully  smoky  fire  and  then  she  went 
to  bed. 

As  I  said,  the  center  of  her  bed,  which  was 
on  a  pile  of  grass,  was  dry,  an  island  around 
which  was  an  inch  or  so  of  water.  But  the 
next  day  was  bright  and  sunny  so  that  all  the 
blankets  and  soaked  contents  of  bags  and 
boxes  could  be  dried. 

So  when  I  arrived,  I  found  her  in  the  midst 
of  trunks  and  all  sorts  of  other  impedimenta 
which  had  just  been  moved  up  to  the  house,  as 
it  was  evident  that  we  could  no  longer  remain 
in  safety  in  our  tent. 


72  PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

The  next  day  I  hastily  nailed  a  few  poles 
together  and  we  filled  a  mattress,  which  Mrs. 
Springer  had  made  from  native  cloth  with 
grass,  and,  crude  and  clumsy  as  it  was,  we 
rejoiced  in  the  luxury  of  a  bed  of  a  sort  after 
five  months  of  sleeping  on  the  ground. 

We  slept  in  the  room  planned  for  my  study, 
and  the  work  of  plastering  our  bedroom  and 
filling  in  its  earthen  floor  was  pushed  rapidly 
and  fires  were  kept  burning  to  dry  it  as  rapidly 
as  possible.  It  was  necessary  for  me  to  build 
a  leopard-proof  goat  house,  for  we  now  had 
several  goats  which  were  supplying  our  table 
with  milk.  I  could  hardly  drive  myself  to  do 
the  work,  I  felt  so  utterly  weary,  but  Mr. 
Heinkel  was  pushing  the  work  on  the  house  for 
all  he  was  worth,  and  so  there  was  no  other 
way  to  get  the  goats  cared  for  than  to  do  it 
myself.  Then,  too,  I  had  to  send  Mr.  Heinkel 
down  to  Ifunda  to  get  meal  and  to  try  to  get 
carriers,  but  he  returned  without  being  able 
to  get  either.  The  situation  was  exceedingly 
depressing. 

I  realized  that  I  must  again  go  forth  and 
make  one  more  desperate  effort  in  the  matter 
of  food  and  men,  but  before  going  it  was  im- 
portant to  get  Mrs.  Springer  installed  in  the 
east  bedroom,  though  it  was  still  wet  with  a 


FLOODS  AND  FEVER  73 

fresh  coat  of  plaster  and  the  new-made  mud 
floor.  But  we  kept  a  fire  burning  in  the  center 
of  the  room  which  somewhat  mitigated  the 
dampness. 

While  I  was  gone  Mrs.  Springer  tried  to 
get  the  house  into  a  somewhat  homelike 
appearance.  We  had  no  doors  nor  windows 
at  all,  so  the  first  day  after  I  left  she  wrote  in 
her  diary,  "I  have  felt  wonderfully  fit  all  day 
[two  days  previously  she  had  been  in  bed]. 
Moved  my  bed  and  made  canvas  curtains  for 
the  two  doors,  and  had  Mutombo  put  a  shelf 
in  the  back  room  for  our  boxes"  (to  keep  them 
off  the  floor  and  safe  from  the  white  ants,  or 
termites). 

A  few  days  later  she  made  a  desperate  effort 
to  get  the  dining-room  in  shape  for  my  home- 
coming and  wrote,  "I  quite  overdid  to-day;  I 
was  so  keen  to  get  the  dining-room  to  look 
like  a  room  rather  than  a  barn."  (We  had  so 
far  been  eating  on  the  veranda  while  the  din- 
ing-room was  being  floored  and  plastered.) 
"I  nailed  a  lot  of  pole  legs  into  boxes  and  then 
I  nailed  two  of  them  together  with  boards  so 
that  I  got  a  very  respectable  sideboard.  Two 
more  boxes  fitted  into  the  bay  window  for  the 
letter  trays,  typewriter,  etc."  Incidentally 
she  mentions  three  loads  of  meal  which  arrived 


74  PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

from  me,  then,  "Songoro  stepped  on  a  knife 
this  evening  and  cut  quite  a  gash  in  his  heel." 

O  those  weary,  weary  days !  Even  now,  after 
four  years  and  transported  thousands  of  miles 
away  from  these  scenes,  though  in  bustling, 
luxurious  America,  we  can  still  feel  the 
chronic  ache  of  nerves  and  muscles  of  those 
days  as  we  review  those  experiences.  Pioneer- 
ing in  mission  work  has  its  romance,  but  it  is 
chiefly  in  prospect  and  retrospect,  the  reality 
being  one  of  plodding,  yet  interesting,  routine. 

For  weeks  we  had  all  toiled  incessantly 
through  sultry  heat  and  unutterable  physical 
discomfort.  But  now  our  house  was  at  least 
habitable,  the  boys  were  under  roofs,  and  the 
goats  in  a  leopard-proof  pen,  the  schoolroom 
was  ready  and  we  looked  forward  to  opening 
school  on  Monday  morning. 

On  Sunday  we  held  our  first  service  in  the 
new  schoolhouse  and  had  the  Holy  Communion. 
Kazembe  and  a  large  crowd  were  over  at  the 
service.  I  found  myself  in  an  unusually  emo- 
tional mood,  and  at  the  end  of  the  service 
realized  that  I  had  fever  and  had  to  go  to  bed. 
This  was  my  first  touch  of  fever  since  1907,  on 
that  trip  across  the  continent,  when  only  one 
hundred  and  twenty-five  miles  due  east  of  our 
present  site,  then  all  terra  incognita  to  us. 


FLOODS  AND  FEVER  75 

My  temperature  speedily  ran  up  to  104°,  and 
it  was  several  hours  before  I  could  be  brought 
to  perspire,  and  it  did  not  then  get  down  to 
normal.  The  next  morning  it  started  up  again 
and  went  higher  still.  The  third  day  it  was 
still  above  101°,  but  on  the  fourth  day  I  seemed 
all  right.  Mr.  Heinkel  now  had  to  go  to  bed 
with  fever  and  Mrs.  Springer  was  having  all 
she  could  do  to  keep  out  of  bed.  I  got  up  and 
sat  on  the  veranda  while  the  grass  was  taken 
out  of  our  mattress  and  sunned.  One  can 
hardly  believe  how  damp  it  was  from  my  exces- 
sive sweating. 

That  night  I  was  very  restless  and  the  room 
seemed  stifling.  This  illness  was  due  to  long 
weeks  of  exposure  and  overwork,  the  sleeping 
in  native  villages  with  neither  mosquito  nets 
nor  proper  shelter  and,  on  my  last  trip,  run- 
ning out  of  a  supply  of  quinine.  As  I  lay  on 
my  bed  I  felt  as  if  I  should  go  mad  if  I  lay 
there  any  longer.  Mrs.  Springer  was  sleeping 
the  sleep  of  exhaustion,  so  I  stole  out  quietly, 
wrapped  myself  in  my  dressing-gown  and  read 
for  an  hour  before  she  awoke  and  persuaded 
me  to  return  to  bed. 

The  next  morning  was  rainy,  and  Mr. 
Heinkel  was  still  confined  to  his  bed  with 
fever,  so  Mrs.  Springer  took  the  school  in  the 


76  PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

forenoon.  I  got  up  about  noon  and  ate  lunch 
with  her,  but  before  I  had  finished  I  was  seized 
with  another  chill.  I  soon  learned  that  I  had 
the  dreaded  haematuric  or  blackwater  fever. 
Noting  the  fact  to  my  wife,  I  took  her  in  my 
arms  saying,  "We  are  in  the  hands  of  God  and 
can  but  leave  the  issue  with  him."  Then  we 
knelt  down  and  in  a  few  words  committed  our 
case  to  the  Great  Physician,  and  I  went  to  bed, 
not  to  get  out  again  for  more  than  a  month. 

We  now  realized  to  the  full  our  isolation. 
Our  nearest  white  neighbor  was  the  govern- 
ment official  seventy  miles  east  at  Kayoyo,  and 
the  nearest  physician  was  Dr,  Fisher  at  Kaleni 
Hill,  eighty  miles  distant  over  in  Northern 
Rhodesia.  It  was  useless  to  send  for  him,  as 
he  could  not  get  there  in  less  than  eight  days 
under  the  best  conditions,  while  now  the 
flooded  rivers  made  the  trail  almost  impass- 
able. 

None  of  us  had  ever  had  any  experience  with 
a  case  of  haematuria.  We  had  one  of  the  two 
standard  remedies  with  us,  having  kept  our- 
selves provided  with  it  for  years.  But  un- 
fortunately vomiting  set  in  so  that  the  medi- 
cine would  not  remain  long  enough  in  the 
stomach  to  take  action.  All  that  long  after- 
noon and  through  the  longer  night,  Mrs. 


FLOODS  AND  FEVER  77 

Springer  fought  with  death.  Over  in  the  west 
room  Mr.  Heinkel  lay  too  ill  to  be  of  any  assist- 
ance. I  myself  was  barely  conscious  of  any- 
thing but  excruciating  pain,  broken  by  vomit- 
ing spells,  after  which  I  would  relapse  into 
delirium.  As  no  medicine  would  stay  on  my 
stomach,  there  was  but  one  thing  to  do,  and  so 
for  ten  or  twelve  hours  I  was  bathed  from 
head  to  foot,  carefully  avoiding  any  chance  of 
chill.  At  eleven  that  night  the  thermometer 
registered  105°  and  over,  but  at  midnight  I 
began  to  perspire  and  the  next  problem  was  to 
change  my  drenched  clothing  rapidly  enough 
to  prevent  another  chill.  By  morning  all  my 
changes  of  night  clothes  had  been  drenched 
and  Mrs.  Springer  had  to  borrow  from  Mr. 
Heinkel. 

But  before  noon  that  day  the  hemorrhage 
had  ceased,  though  the  vomiting  continued 
unabated  for  nearly  a  month,  being  provoked 
afresh  by  the  slightest  thing.  The  most  up- 
setting thing  was  our  Billy  goat  with  his 
strong  musk  odor.  If  he  passed  the  house 
within  thirty  feet  and  the  wind  was  houseward 
it  would  set  me  into  a  violent  fit  of  vomiting. 

Now  fresh  milk  is  one  of  the  first  articles  of 
diet  a  fever  patient  can  take,  and  there  is  noth- 
ing more  easily  digested  usually  than  goat's 


78  PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

milk.  We  were  getting  a  good  supply  from  our 
two  milking  goats,  but  it  seemed  to  me  that 
the  goat  odor  was  most  pronounced.  Perhaps 
my  imagination  was  working  overtime,  but 
each  attempt  to  drink  the  goat  milk  only 
brought  on  fresh  nausea. 

Absolute  quiet  and  freedom  from  care  is  a 
necessary  part  of  convalescence  from  fever,  but 
this  was  impossible  in  my  case.  There  being 
neither  doors  nor  windows  nor  ceilings,  and  as 
the  partitions  of  the  rooms  only  went  up  to 
the  height  of  the  walls,  I  could  hear  everything 
that  was  going  on  inside  and  outside  the  house. 
I  simply  could  not  shake  off  the  burden  of 
responsibility  which  rested  upon  me.  It  was 
also  necessary  for  me  to  call  in  Mr.  Heinkel 
from  time  to  time  in  order  to  consult  about 
the  work  and  to  tell  my  wife  of  some  important 
letters  which  must  be  written.  It  is  hardly 
necessary  to  add  that  all  of  these  occasions 
were  followed  by  exhaustion  and  attacks  of 
vomiting. 

School  had  begun  the  next  morning  after  I 
was  taken  sick,  but  it  had  to  be  looked  after 
by  Mr.  Heinkel  when  he  was  well  enough,  and 
when  he  too  was  ill  with  fever,  Jacob  and  Jim 
did  their  best  to  keep  things  going. 

My  thought  was  also  concerned  with  the 


FLOODS  AND  FEVER  79 

problem  of  getting  the  further  supplies  that 
were  necessary.  Now  that  the  rains  were  on 
in  earnest,  all  thought  of  getting  the  carriers 
that  I  had  been  seeking  to  go  down  to  the  rail- 
road for  supplies  had  to  be  abandoned.  Parcel 
post  was  now  our  only  hope,  and  it  was  our 
temporal  salvation  for  the  year  and  a  half  that 
we  remained  at  Lukoshi.  One  of  the  things 
that  had  to  be  done  during  my  illness  was  the 
making  out  and  sending  our  initial  orders  to 
the  stores  at  Bulawayo,  one  thousand  miles 
distant.  The  Belgian  post  route  through 
Kayoyo  was  not  opened  up  for  a  long  time 
after  we  came  to  Lukoshi,  so  we  got  our  mail 
from  Dr.  Fisher's  station,  which  had  been 
made  a  government  post  office,  as  mission  sta- 
tions frequently  are  in  the  remote  interior. 

While  I  lay  there  on  my  back  the  rains  con- 
tinued to  fall  in  force  and  the  rivers  to  rise. 
The  bridge  at  the  east  of  our  grounds  was  first 
swept  away  and  then  the  one  at  the  west.  On 
one  occasion  before  I  was  up,  at  about  sun- 
down, there  was  a  shout  from  the  opposite 
bank  and  there  stood  two  mail  boys  from 
Kaleni.  But  how  to  get  the  mail  over.  "Kun 
and  get  the  bath,"  commanded  Mrs.  Springer. 
The  boys  got  our  smaller  tin  bath  and  Songoro 
and  Kalinswiki,  who  were  excellent  swimmers, 


80  PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

towed  it  across  the  river  for  two  trips,  thus 
bringing  all  the  mail  over  by  this  unique 
method. 

And  as  the  rains  fell  and  the  rivers  swelled, 
vegetation  fairly  jumped,  and  millions  of  in- 
sects sprang  into  being.  Our  garden  seeds 
sprouted  and  appeared,  only  to  be  instantly 
devoured  by  the  hosts  of  insects  that  seemed 
to  be  just  waiting  for  them. 

Only  the  brakes  and  grass  defied  this  vora- 
cious army  and  the  superiority  of  man.  We 
had  not  been  able  to  cut  away  much  of  the 
forest  around  our  house  before  I  was  taken  ill, 
and  I  shall  never  forget  the  powerful  impres- 
sion made  upon  me  in  those  days  of  weakness, 
as  though  the  wilderness  would  press  in  on  and 
crowd  upon,  overwhelm,  and  smother  us. 
When  I  had  gone  to  bed  there  was  practically 
no  grass  to  be  seen  and  our  station  site  had 
been  hoed  so  that  it  was  bare  of  vegetation. 
On  the  first  day  that  I  was  up  and  looked 
through  the  open  door,  the  sight  of  that  mass 
of  brakes  and  grass  nearly  two  feet  high 
scarcely  a  yard  away  from  the  veranda,  seemed 
to  my  weakened  body  like  some  great  monster 
fairly  holding  me  by  the  throat. 

From  my  earliest  years  in  Africa,  in  clear- 
ing building  sites,  subduing  gardens,  making 


FLOODS  AND  FEVER  81 

and  maintaining  paths  and  roads,  and  other- 
wise introducing  the  conditions  of  civilized 
life,  I  have  ever  been  impressed  with  what  I 
can  no  better  describe  than  the  strength,  the 
challenging  vitality  of  primitive  and  as  yet 
unsubdued  Africa. 

But  strong  and  vital  as  is  nature  in  Africa, 
there  is  in  man  a  greater  strength  and  vitality, 
that  of  the  spirit;  and  in  all  parts  of  Africa 
men  are  meeting  the  challenge  and  subduing 
the  wilderness  in  obedience  to  God's  first  com- 
mand to  man.  And  though  often  individually 
beaten  back  and  even  overcome  by  the  Grim 
Messenger,  yet  collectively  man  flashes  back 
the  challenge  and  advances  steadily  as  a  con- 
queror, aided  by  the  facilities  of  industry  and 
the  knowledge  of  modern  science. 

And  in  me  in  those  days,  as  returning 
strength  began  to  pulsate  in  my  veins,  there 
arose  the  answer  to  nature  as  I  looked  out 
through  the  open  doorway,  that  we  would  con- 
quer and  subdue  her  and  make  her  great 
vitality  and  resources  subservient  to  man. 

Serious  as  I  knew  that  illness  to  be,  my  spirit 
never  for  a  moment  despaired  of  recovery 
and  I  learned  afresh  the  mighty  lesson  of  the 
essential  mastery  of  mind  over  matter,  of  spirit 
over  nature,  and  of  God  over  all  and  in  all. 


CHAPTER  VII 
LANGUAGE  STUDY 

THE  rest  of  1911  was  one  of  continual  sick- 
ness of  one  or  two  of  our  party.  I  had  hardly 
got  out  of  bed  when  Mrs.  Springer  went  in  for 
ten  days  of  hard  fever.  At  Christmas  I  had 
an  ulcerated  tooth  and  a  face  like  a  gorilla. 
It  is  hardly  possible  to  have  a  "Merry  Christ- 
mas" under  such  conditions.  Just  at  the  close 
of  my  illness,  Mr.  Heinkel  had  a  severe  attack 
of  fever  and  for  two  or  three  days  Mrs. 
Springer  feared  that  he  had  blackwater  as 
well.  It  was  an  anxious  time  for  her,  with 
myself  helpless  in  the  east  end  of  the  house 
and  with  him  sick  abed  in  the  west  end. 

But  with  the  passing  out  of  the  old  year, 
there  came  a  happy  change  in  the  tide  of  our 
affairs.  The  last  day  of  the  old  year  came  on 
Sunday  and  the  new  era  was  then  ushered  in 
with  the  baptism  of  Songora,  who  took  the 
Christian  name  of  Peter,  his  prototype.  We 
had  the  Holy  Communion  for  the  first  time 
since  that  other  Sunday  when  I  had  to  take  to 

82 


LANGUAGE  STUDY  83 

my  bed,  and  we  all  thanked  God  and  took  fresh 
courage. 

On  New  Year's  Day  Kazembe  came  over 
with  a  present  of  meal ;  an  act  so  unusual  as 
to  be  worthy  of  note.  The  food  situation  was 
somewhat  relieved  now  by  getting  meal  and 
salt  through  Mr.  Frykberg  of  Kalulua,  seventy 
miles  away.  Of  course  it  made  the  expense 
of  living  very  high  indeed,  but  was  unavoid- 
able at  that  time. 

On  January  8th  the  first  Lunda  boy  came 
to  the  school.  He  had  been  hanging  around 
for  some  time  doing  odd  jobs  for  Jim,  receiv- 
ing in  payment  an  old  shirt  in  which  his  little 
figure  was  nearly  swallowed  up.  He  was  a 
funny  looking  lad,  mere  skin  and  bones,  from 
scant  feeding.  His  name  was  Kapenda.  We 
did  not  have  the  remotest  idea  that  he  would 
stay  a  whole  month,  but  he  is  still  in  the 
Mission  after  four  years.  While  Mrs.  Springer 
was  working  on  the  revision  of  the  Luunda 
translation  of  Mark  at  Kambove  in  1914, 
Kapenda  was  one  of  her  best  helpers.  At  pres- 
ent writing  he  is  with  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Piper  at 
Mwata  Yamvo's. 

Two  days  after  this  a  man  came  from  the 
village  and  said  he  wanted  a  job  to  teach  us 
Luunda,  so  we  hired  him  on  the  spot.  What 


84  PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

with  all  our  building  and  illness,  we  had  not 
made  great  headway  in  reducing  the  language 
to  writing.  The  only  work  along  this  line  ever 
accomplished  was  a  very  meager  portion ;  done, 
more  than  twenty-five  years  before,  by  Senhor 
Cavalho,  a  Portuguese.  He  had  made  his  study 
of  Luunda  on  an  expedition  from  the  west 
coast  to  Mwata  Yamvo,  east  of  the  Kassai 
Kiver.  Nevertheless,  we  found  the  little  work 
he  had  done  remarkably  accurate  and  a  great 
help  to  us  in  settling  difficult  questions,  espe- 
cially of  grammar. 

We  had  taken  with  us  an  Edison  business 
phonograph,  and  we  now  had  the  natives  speak 
into  it,  making  Luunda  records  to  which  we 
listened,  getting  considerable  benefit,  though 
not  as  much  as  we  would  have  gotten  had  we 
been  able  to  get  teachers  who  knew  English 
as  well.  Our  "teachers"  knew  Luunda  all 
right,  but  they  had  not  the  remotest  idea  how 
to  impart  their  knowledge,  and  they  grew  very 
tired  of  answering  questions  which  seemed  to 
them  silly  and  pointless,  but  which  were  to  us 
of  vital  importance.  It  was  unfortunate  that 
most  of  the  natives  who  came  to  sell  food 
spoke  the  Chindembwe  rather  than  the  Luunda, 
for  consequently  we  did  not  have  a  chance  to 
practice  the  language  in  our  daily  intercourse 


LANGUAGE  STUDY  85 

with  the  natives.  We  have  mentioned  that 
Jacob,  Jim,  and  Peter  had  spent  nearly  three 
years  in  our  Angola  missions  near  Malange, 
where  they  had  learned  the  Kimbundu,  which 
is  a  kindred  language  to  the  Luunda.  Jacob 
was  essentially  a  linguist  and  his  help  in  the 
work  of  learning  the  Luunda  was  very  valu- 
able. In  the  earlier  stages  of  our  work,  we 
found  that  we  could  make  the  greatest  prog- 
ress and  produce  the  best  results  by  translat- 
ing the  excellent  Kimbundu  versions  into  the 
Luunda.  By  this  means  we  soon  had  the 
Lord's  Prayer,  the  twenty-third  psalm,  several 
hymns,  and  part  of  the  catechism  for  our  daily 
use. 

Although  there  has  been  so  much  written 
on  the  Bantu  languages,  there  still  remains 
much  misconception  of  them  in  the  popular 
mind.  There  is  an  idea  that  they  must  be  a 
missing  link  between  monkey  language  and  the 
human  speech.  Nothing  could  be  more  errone- 
ous. The  Bantu  languages  follow  most  exact 
rules  of  grammar  and  are  far  more  perfectly 
constructed  than  English  and  some  of  the 
European  languages. 

They  are  all  noted  for  two  things.  They  are 
absolutely  devoid  of  gender  and  form  their 
plurals  by  means  of  prefixes  instead  of  suffixes. 


86  PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

They  generally  have  ten  to  twelve  classes  of 
nouns  and  three  classes  of  locative  nouns, 
which  are  used  instead  of  the  English  preposi- 
tion. All  these  features  are  very  bewildering 
to  the  new  student  of  the  Bantu,  but  when 
one  has  once  mastered  the  fundamental  prin- 
ciples of  one  Bantu  language,  it  is  a  compara- 
tively easy  matter  to  learn  another. 

The  first  class  is  usually  the  one  from  which 
the  word  bantu  is  taken.  Muntu  is  a  man, 
often  a  head  also,  the  generic  term  of  man,  that 
is,  a  person.  Bantu  is  the  plural.  Huti  is  one 
tree ;  miti  are  two  trees.  Chitanda,  one  chair ; 
zitanda,  chairs.  So  far  it  is  not  so  rough  sailing. 
But  in  some  of  these  classes,  the  original  pre- 
fixes have  been  dropped  in  the  word  itself,  but 
must  appear  in  the  other  parts  of  the  sentence, 
for  it  is  another  rule  of  all  the  Bantu  lan- 
guages that  these  prefixes  must  appear  in  the 
adjectives  and  verbs  and  take  the  place  of 
many  of  the  pronouns.  Thus  in  Luunda,  a  good 
man  is,  muntu  muwampi;  good  men,  antu 
awampi.  A  good  tree,  mutondo  muwampi; 
good  trees,  mitondo  miwampi.  A  good  ox, 
ngombe  yawampi;  good  oxen,  ngombe  zawampL 

The  first  word  in  the  translation  of  the 
Gospel  of  Mark,  is  an  illustration  of  the  loca- 
tive classes.  "In  the  beginning,"  is  translated 


LANGUAGE  STUDY  87 

"Kusambishe."  Now  the  preposition  "of"  con- 
sists of  "a"  with  the  consonants  of  the  prefix 
of  the  word  to  which  it  belongs.  Therefore  in 
the  following  sentence  the  preposition  "of"  is 
spelled  in  three  different  ways  following  an 
inflexible  rule.  "Kusambisha  kwa  rusangu 
rwa  Jesu  Kristu,  Mwana  wa  Nzambi."  "In 
the  beginning  of  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ,  the 
Son  of  God." 

Just  at  this  time  we  were  intensely  inter- 
ested in  the  advent  of  three  men  from  the  north 
with  a  message  from  Mwata  Yamvo  to  Ka- 
zembe  that  he  was  to  send  his  tribute  at  an 
early  date.  They  said  that  Mwata  Yamvo  had 
heard  of  us  and  had  sent  them  to  tell  us  also 
that  he  wanted  a  missionary  to  come  to  his 
town  to  teach  his  people.  These  men  sat  down 
and  gave  us  several  hours'  help  on  the  Luunda 
and  at  that  time,  as  we  have  ever  found  since, 
there  was  shown  the  greatest  gratification  that 
we  were  taking  up  the  study  of  the  Luunda 
and  making  books  out  of  it  which  could  be 
taught  to  the  youths  of  the  country.  As  we 
got  further  into  the  language,  we  found  it  to 
be  one  of  the  best  of  the  many  Bantu  lan- 
guages, a  delight  to  learn  and  to  use. 

We  were  decidedly  limited  at  this  time  in 
our  enjoyments  and  recreations.  Part  of  the 


88  PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

time  both  our  bridges  were  swept  away  and  we 
were  cut  off  from  most  of  the  near  villages.  So 
one  of  our  diversions  was  the  setting  up  of  a 
marked  stick  at  the  river's  edge  and  noting  its 
rise  and  fall.  The  natives  had  built  a  large 
fish  weir  across  the  wide  part  of  the  river  on 
the  east  side  just  below  our  first  bridge,  and 
the  question  as  to  when  that  dam  would  burst 
was  the  only  real  excitement  we  had  for  some 
weeks.  We  were  quite  gleeful  when  at  last 
the  mass  of  waters  swept  it  down  the  river, 
even  though  it  meant  the  carrying  away  of  the 
west  bridge,  leaving  us  no  connections  with 
the  other  side.  It  also  meant  that  we  had  to 
build  two  new  bridges,  which  involved  hard 
wwk.  Nevertheless  we  got  a  lot  of  keen  enjoy- 
ment out  of  watching  the  river,  which  seemed 
almost  like  a  living  thing  in  its  varying  moods 
and  phases. 

Speaking  of  the  river,  one  day  Kanuka,  our 
Luunda  teacher,  came  to  me  with  an  air  of 
great  secrecy.  He  had  sought  Jacob  out  first 
and  explained  the  situation  to  him,  and  then 
the  two  came  to  me.  He  had  caught  an  enor- 
mous fish,  which  he  had  brought  (crossing  the 
river  about  two  miles  below  us  on  a  tree  that 
had  been  felled  across  the  stream,  and  which 
was  now  covered  with  two  or  three  feet  of 


MWANAGATWE  BRINGING  IN 
MUSHROOMS 

JIM  BAKING  BREAD  IN 
CAMP 


MR.  AND  MRS.  SPRINGER 
STARTING  ON  A  JOURNEY 

DENTISTRY  WAS  AN  INCIDENT- 
AL PROFESSION 


LANGUAGE  STUDY  89 

water),  and  he  had  hid  the  fish  in  the  tall 
grass  by  a  tree  on  the  river  bank  in  order  to 
come  up  quietly  and  talk  the  matter  over  with 
us. 

What  he  wanted  to  do  was  to  sell  us  the 
fish.  But  the  custom  of  the  olden  time  had 
always  been  that  whosoever  caught  one  of  these 
particular  big  "king"  fishes  must  take  it  to 
the  chief  as  a  present,  or  be  accused  of  witch- 
craft. This  was  the  only  one  he  had  caught 
this  year  and  he  wanted  the  pay  that  he  could 
get  from  it,  but  did  not  want  to  take  any 
chance  of  being  accused  of  witchcraft.  I  had 
him  go  and  fetch  it.  It  weighed  twenty-four 
pounds  and  looked  good  to  us,  as  we  had  been 
so  hard  pushed  to  get  any  kind  of  food  since 
coming  to  Lukoshi.  I  assured  Kanuka  that 
according  to  the  white  man's  law  he  had  a 
perfect  right  to  sell  the  fish  and  that  I  would 
not  advertise  the  buying  of  it,  so  that  he  might 
be  spared  the  charge  of  witchcraft.  The  result 
was  that  for  the  next  two  or  three  days  every- 
one on  our  station  had  a  good  feed  of  fish.  Our 
boys  were  quite  successful  fishers  all  through 
the  rainy  season. 

Fetishism  and  witchcraft  were  the  prevail- 
ing forms  of  religion,  if  such  they  could  be 
called.  At  least  these  were  the  outward  ex- 


90  PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

pressions  which  indicated  the  gropings  of  the 
soul  within.  One  day  Kazembe  sent  word  to 
me  that  a  certain  witch  doctor,  the  Nkishi,  had 
come  to  his  village  and  would  give  a  dance  the 
next  day,  and  that  if  I  wished  to  come  over  and 
see  the  performance  I  might. 

Mr.  Heinkel  and  I  went  over  and,  by  the 
way,  nearly  got  sunstroke  from  standing  on  a 
totally  unshaded  vlei  to  witness  the  dance. 
Why  in  the  name  of  common  sense  he  should 
have  chosen  the  hottest  and  most  uncomfort- 
able place  in  that  whole  region,  I  have  never 
been  able  to  comprehend.  In  that  forest  coun- 
try it  was  far  easier  to  find  a  cool,  shady  spot 
for  his  performance  than  the  hot  one  which  he 
selected. 

He  was  dressed  in  a  pair  of  European 
trousers,  a  heavy,  striped  sweater,  and  had  a 
large,  heavy  mask  surmounted  with  feathers 
over  his  face.  He  had  a  sort  of  dressing  room 
on  the  edge  of  the  forest  and  Chidiani  and 
another  young  buck  acted  as  attendants. 

Every  man,  woman,  and  child  in  that  whole 
group  of  villages  was  gathered  on  that  hot 
vlei  and  there  was  a  thrill  of  expectancy  and 
mystery  over  the  whole  place.  The  Nkishi 
would  emerge,  clad  in  his  terrible  looking  garb, 
and  dance  till  he  was  nearly  suffocated  and 


LANGUAGE  STUDY  91 

exhausted,  when  he  would  retire  and  after  a 
little  rest  come  forth  again.  The  dance  was 
offensive,  to  put  it  very  mildly.  He  kept  this 
up  for  two  or  three  days,  impressing  on  the 
people  the  necessity  of  their  holding  to  their 
old  customs  and  rites.  When  he  left  he  carried 
away  with  him  a  lot  of  rich  presents  in  the  way 
of  cloth,  guns,  etc. 

.On  the  fifth  of  March  we  sent  Jacob  and 
Peter  on  an  evangelistic  trip  to  the  north  to 
explore  that  country,  get  acquainted  with  and 
preach  to  the  natives,  and  investigate  the 
report  that  had  come  to  us  through  the  natives 
that  only  four  days  north  of  us  there  was  a 
store  in  charge  of  white  men. 

During  the  three  weeks  they  were  gone  they 
endured  no  few  hardships — it  rained  much  of 
the  time,  they  lost  their  way,  and  their  guide 
fell  ill  and  died.  In  spite  of  all  this  they 
returned  with  an  enthusiastic  account.  Jacob 
had  taken  paper  and  pencil  with  him  and,  as 
instructed,  made  a  map  as  he  traveled,  putting 
on  every  village,  stream,  lake,  swamp,  and 
anything  else  that  would  be  of  interest  and 
importance,  also  the  distances  as  he  judged 
them.  He  computed  the  distances  from  his 
watch,  allowing  about  three  miles  an  hour.  I 
went  over  this  whole  route  later  with  compass, 


92  PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

bicycle,  and  cyclometer,  and  was  surprised  to 
find  how  accurate  he  had  been. 

He  had  found  several  large  villages  where 
the  people  were  intensely  interested  in  the 
Good  News  that  he  was  the  first  to  bring  to 
them,  and  two  of  the  sub-chiefs  in  particular 
were  very  eager  to  have  us  come  and  build 
near  them. 

He  also  found  a  store  of  the  Kassai 
(Rubber)  Co.,  and  brought  back  a  letter  from 
the  agent  stating  that  we  could  buy  salt,  cloth, 
beads,  and  brass  wire  at  the  store;  and  what 
was  more,  I  found  that  I  could  get  it  there 
cheaper  than  I  could  bring  it  in  from  the  rail- 
road. This  for  the  next  year  was  an  untold 
blessing  to  us. 

Jacob  was  at  his  best  in  evangelistic  work. 
He  had  had  a  deep  religious  experience.  He 
was  a  notable  illustration  of  what  Miss  Mac- 
kenzie mentioned  years  ago  when  she  said, 
"Only  God  can  explain  the  miracle  of  resurrec- 
tion in  a  native  African  soul,  the  joy  where 
there  has  been  such  misery,  the  innocence 
where  there  has  been  such  vice,  the  native 
youth  where  there  has  been  such  age-long 
iniquity,  the  immediate  access  to  God  where 
there  has  been  such  estrangement.  There  is  an 
intimacy  between  God  and  the  renewed  African 


LANGUAGE  STUDY  93 

soul  which  makes  the  missionary  feel  every 
now  and  then  the  twinge  of  the  elder  brother's 
jealousy  as  though  left  out  of  some  happy 
secret." 

Just  after  the  return  of  Jacob  and  Peter  an 
incident  occurred  which  threw  a  gloom  over 
our  mission  even  as  the  murder  of  Nyahainba 
had  done  seven  months  before.  It  was  on  a 
Sunday  and  we  had  had  an  unusually  good 
morning  service  and  were  in  a  very  happy, 
cheerful  mood.  We  three  were  sitting  out  on 
the  front  veranda  pleasantly  anticipating  the 
announcement  that  dinner  was  on  the  table. 
You  know  the  mood.  The  station  was  alive 
with  the  sounds  of  chattering,  laughing  groups 
of  boys  wandering  around  also  waiting  for 
their  dinner. 

One  group  of  boys  strolled  by  toward  the 
west  bridge — not  that  they  intended  to  fish — 
O,  no !  but,  at  any  rate,  it  would  do  no  harm 
to  just  stroll  down  and  see  if  they  could  see 
the  fish  from  the  top  of  the  new  bridge,  that 
was  all.  In  this  group  was  a  Mundembwe  boy 
by  the  name  of  Chiwahi,  a  fine  young  lad. 

Just  a  year  previously,  while  passing 
through  Chiwahi's  village,  his  mother  had 
brought  the  lad  out  and  presented  him  to  me 
saying,  "Here  is  my  boy  and  I  want  you  to  take 


94  PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

and  teach  Mm.  We  are  too  old  to  learn,  for 
our  heads  are  now  thick.  But  I  want  you  to 
take  my  boy  along  with  you  and  let  him  learn." 

So  the  lad  had  been  with  us  a  year  and  was 
making  rapid  progress  in  his  classes,  and  in 
every  phase  of  his  temporal  and  spiritual  life. 
He  had  a  winsome  personality.  We  often  com- 
mented on  his  favorable  progress. 

Now  as  we  sat  there  waiting  for  our  welcome 
call,  a  terrible  scream  suddenly  broke  on  the 
air  and  then  another  and  another.  What  could 
it  mean!  We  caught  a  glimpse  of  Chiwahi 
fairly  flying  up  from  the  river  bank  to  the  com- 
pound, the  others  close  at  his  heels.  It  didn't 
look  like  a  row.  What  could  it  be? 

Before  we  could  make  a  move  in  the  matter, 
Mwana  Gatwe  reached  us  on  the  run.  He  said 
that  they  had  met  two  men  down  on  the  bridge 
and  that  these  men  had  come  to  tell  Chiwahi 
that  a  day  or  two  before  his  father  had  been 
killed,  a  neighbor  wounded,  and  his  mother 
and  all  the  children  captured  and  taken  away 
into  slavery.  A  few  minutes  later  the  men 
came  along  and  we  learned  from  them  that  the 
story  was  all  too  true.  Just  then  another  boy 
came  to  say  that  Chiwahi  had  started  to  run 
to  his  village,  so  I  hastily  sent  others  to  over- 
take him  and  bring  him  back,  saying  that  I 


LANGUAGE  STUDY  95 

would  go  early  on  the  morrow,  it  being  too  late 
to  start  then,  and  would  take  Chiwahi  along. 

The  rest  of  the  day  we  were  unable  to  think 
of  anything  but  the  horrible  picture  that  had 
been  put  before  us.  I  hastily  collected  a  few 
articles  of  clothing,  medicine,  and  bandages, 
a  little  food,  a  hoe  and  shovel,  and  taking 
nearly  all  the  school  along  with  me,  started 
early  the  next  morning  for  Chiwahi's  village, 
about  fifteen  miles  away. 

Although  we  now  had  another  bridge  across 
the  Lukoshi,  I  had  to  wade  in  water  a  half  a 
mile  on  the  other  side.  Then  at  the  end  of 
our  journey  I  had  to  cross  the  river  again  to 
get  to  ChiwahPs  village,  another  half  mile  of 
wading,  together  with  crossing  on  a  submerged 
log,  and  a  quarter  of  a  mile  further  on  we  came 
to  the  deserted  village. 

The  sight  was  a  ghastly  one.  Here  were 
evidences  of  where  a  tolerably  large  party  had 
made  the  attack  and  Chiwahi's  father  had 
been  killed  in  the  attempt  to  protect  his 
family.  One  could  see  that  there  had  been  a 
desperate  struggle,  and  pools  of  blood  lay  dried 
and  blistered  under  the  early  afternoon  sun. 
We  found  Chiwahi's  father  lying  in  his  hut 
with  the  door  heavily  barricaded  on  the  out- 
side. His  friends  had  carried  him  in  there 


96  PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

after  the  attack,  and  then  sent  the  two  messen- 
gers to  tell  their  chief  Kazembe  and  Chiwahi. 

The  first  thing  to  do  was  to  bury  the  dead 
man,  who  had  been  dead  already  two  days. 
While  the  boys  were  digging  in  the  hard 
ground  I  went  to  the  adjoining  village,  which 
had  also  suffered  attack  and  where  the  head- 
man had  been  shot  through  the  arm  near  the 
elbow.  The  wound  was  in  a  fearful  condition 
and  I  feared  blood  poisoning  would  set  in.  I 
dressed  it  carefully  and  tried  earnestly  to  get 
the  men  of  that  village  to  bring  him  to  the 
Mission  where  I  could  treat  him.  But  the 
heathen  usually  know  little  of  mercy  and 
brotherly  kindness,  and  they  would  not  lift  a 
finger  to  save  the  man's  life  when  it  meant  any 
trouble  to  themselves.  I  slept  that  night  in 
this  little  village  and  returned  the  next  day  to 
the  Mission,  but  Chiwahi  went  on  to  tell  his 
nearest  of  kin,  his  uncle,  the  dreadful  news. 

We  all  expected  that  in  a  week  or  two,  or  a 
month  at  the  most,  Chiwahi  would  return  to 
the  Mission  and  resume  his  place  in  the  school. 
But  matters  arose  of  which  mention  will  be 
made  later,  that  first  delayed  and  finally  pre- 
vented his  ever  returning  to  us. 


CHAPTER  VIII 
ON  TO  MWATA  YAMVO 

ON  May  17,  just  five  years  and  four  days 
after  our  setting  out  from  Broken  Hill  to  ex- 
plore this  unknown  section  of  country  for  our- 
selves, we  left  LukosM  to  go  to  the  capital  of 
Mwata  Yamvo. 

In  1907  it  had  been  impossible  to  penetrate 
the  Lunda  country  to  the  capital  on  account 
of  the  activities  of  the  cannibals  throughout 
the  whole  southwest  portion  of  the  Congo. 

In  1910,  after  reaching  Kalulua,  I  spent 
nearly  a  week  in  vain  attempts  to  get  carriers 
to  take  me  there. 

In  1911,  just  after  reaching  Lukoshi,  I  found 
some  Ambunda  in  one  of  the  Chokwe  villages 
who  wanted  me  to  go  with  them  and  help  them 
rescue  the  daughter  of  one  of  the  men  who  had 
been  seized  as  a  slave.  As  the  Ambunda  were 
principally  the  ones  to  prey  on  and  enslave  the 
Alunda,  it  was  an  exceptional  case  to  have  one 
of  their  own  people  caught. 

I  had  agreed  to  go  and  help  them  and 

97 


98  PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

planned  then  to  press  on  to  Mwata  Yamvo's, 
and  they  promised  to  furnish  the  carriers,  but 
when  Kazembe  killed  Nyahamba  the  whole 
affair  was  off,  since  all  the  men  in  the  region 
were  needed  at  home  to  defend  their  own  vil- 
lages. 

In  all  of  these  cases  we  sought  to  know  the 
Divine  will  and  plan  as  to  time,  and  the  events 
that  followed  made  it  clear  to  us. 

We  were  now  convinced  that  the  time  had 
come  to  go.  Our  present  building  operations 
could  be  cared  for  by  Mr.  Heinkel,  and 
although  I  had  not  yet  fully  recovered  from  my 
illness,  I  felt  that  strength  would  be  given  me 
for  that  trip.  The  fact  is  that  I  was  in  bed 
with  fever  the  week  before  starting,  but  as 
there  are  only  three  months  when  one  can  be 
certain  of  not  having  rain,  it  was  necessary  to 
go  at  that  time  or  put  it  off  until  the  next  year. 

I  thought  that  I  would  have  no  difficulty 
whatever  in  getting  carriers  for  the  entire  trip. 
Surely  the  young  men  would  be  only  too  glad 
to  visit  their  paramount  chief,  making  the 
journey  under  the  protection  of  the  white  man. 
Then,  too,  Kazembe  had  been  notified  twice 
that  he  must  bring  his  tribute,  and  he  had 
especially  requested  me  to  go  with  him,  which 
would  also  give  him  protection.  He  had  most 


ON  TO  MWATA  YAMVO  99 

of  his  tribute  ready  and  we  had  waited  a  week 
or  two  for  him,  but  he  said  that  he  was  just 
waiting  for  some  salt  to  add  to  his  tribute  and 
then  he  would  go.  However,  when  we  were 
ready  and  I  told  him  that  we  could  wait  no 
longer,  he  said  that  he  had  received  word  of  a 
contemplated  attack  on  him  by  one  Chipepela 
and  he  dared  not  leave.  Eventually  Kazembe 
and  his  people  ate  the  cow,  the  meal,  and  other 
portions  of  the  tribute  prepared  for  Mwata 
Yainvo,  and  to  this  day  no  tribute  has  been 
sent. 

As  usual,  I  got  no  help  from  Kazembe  in 
procuring  carriers.  On  the  contrary  he  im- 
pressed on  all  his  young  men  that  they  should 
not  go  with  me,  but  wait  for  and  go  with  him. 
I  sent  Jim  out,  but  the  best  he  could  do  was  to 
engage  two  or  three  to  go  with  me  four  days 
and  then  turn  back.  One  of  these  men  came 
a  two  days'  journey  to  Lukoshi  and  then 
backed  out  before  ever  we  started.  Such  a  lot 
of  faint-hearts  as  this  country  contained ! 

I  had  greatly  desired  to  take  the  phonograph 
and  get  some  records  made  by  Mwata  Yamvo 
himself,  but  there  was  no  one  to  carry  it.  Had 
I  not  been  confined  to  my  bed  by  fever  while 
all  the  preparations  were  being  made,  I  might 
have  gone  out  and  had  better  success  in  getting 


100          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

men.  By  leaving  the  phonograph  and  reduc- 
ing our  loads  to  such  a  minimum  that  we  suf- 
fered for  food  on  the  road  and  were  compelled 
much  of  the  time  to  live  on  sour  mush,  we  were 
finally  able  to  get  away  from  Lukoshi.  Mrs. 
Springer  had  four  carriers  for  her  hammock, 
none  of  them  of  much  account,  and  three  of 
whom  objected  to  the  fourth,  saying  that  he 
walked  like  a  cow.  We  did  not  get  away  from 
our  station  until  two  in  the  afternoon  and  so 
had  to  camp  six  miles  on,  where  we  had  a  lively 
evening  service  with  some  twenty  children 
who  came  out  full  of  wonder  to  see  us. 

The  next  day  we  made  only  ten  miles,  as  our 
carriers  were  too  weak  to  make  time.  One  man 
showed  me  his  wrist  as  proof  of  his  enfeebled 
condition.  It  was  as  small  as  a  child's.  I 
asked  him  why,  when  he  and  his  family  were 
actually  starving,  he  would  not  work  and  earn 
food,  but  he  shook  his  head  and  gave  no  an- 
swer. Nor  can  I  give  one.  Many  of  those 
natives  were  starving  and  yet  they  would  not 
work  in  any  way  to  earn  food  either  for  them- 
selves or  for  their  children.  And  it  was  simply 
the  neglect  to  dig  gardens  that  had  brought 
them  to  starvation. 

At  the  next  village,  one  of  the  carriers  began 
to  wail  loudly,  and  his  friends  came  to  me  and 


ON  TO  MWATA  YAMVO  101 

said  that  he  had  just  heard  of  his  father's  death 
and  that  he  must  return  at  once  to  mourn  for 
him.  Since  he  had  just  come  from  his  father 
and  had  not  been  overtaken  by  anyone,  we 
could  not  have  a  great  deal  of  faith  in  what  he 
said.  But  he  wailed  all  night  and  all  the  next 
day,  Sunday,  till  I  finally  told  him  that  if  he 
could  get  a  substitute  he  could  go.  As  to  his 
friends'  petition  to  go  with  him,  I  absolutely 
turned  that  down.  They  had  agreed  to  go  to 
Kimpuki  and  to  Kimpuki  they  must  go. 

Mrs.  Springer's  machilla  team  was  prac- 
tically a  farce.  They  did  not  have  the  strength, 
or  thought  they  didn't,  to  carry  her,  so  they 
were  loaded  up  with  odds  and  ends  to  relieve 
some  of  the  others  who  had  been  loaded  rather 
heavily  on  our  start,  and  she  had  to  walk  about 
all  the  way. 

We  were  now  following  the  trail  which 
Jacob  had  taken  in  March.  There  were  four 
large  towns  between  Lukoshi  and  Kimpuki 
besides  many  small  villages.  Jacob  had  found 
these  people  keen  to  hear  about  the  object  of 
the  mission  and  he  had  talked  and  preached  to 
the  people  until  he  was  hoarse.  And  each 
chief  wanted  that  we  should  come  and  build 
near  him. 

So  we  were  obliged  to  go  slowly,  spending  a 


102          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

day  and  night  at  each  village.  We  were  espe- 
cially taken  with  the  chief  Mpereta  and  his 
very  large  town.  Mpereta  was  a  very  pleasant 
man,  quiet,  dignified,  and  conservative. 

It  is  the  custom  when  a  white  man  comes 
to  a  village  to  first  call  for  the  chief.  He  then 
waits  quietly  until  the  chief  appears  and 
brings  a  present,  usually  of  meal  and  fowls. 
There  are  cases  where  a  goat  or  even  an  ox 
will  be  brought  as  a  present,  but  in  most  parts 
of  central  Africa  the  present  consists  of  native 
meal  and  native  fowls,  tiny  half-grown  ban- 
tams, skinny  and  full  of  pin  feathers. 

Mpereta  brought  out  several  baskets  of  good 
cassava  meal  and  two  fowls.  He  made  the 
usual  speech  that  he  was  ashamed  of  his  in- 
significant present  for  the  white  man,  but  his 
was  a  small  village  and  they  were  all  poor.  I 
accepted  it  with  thanks  and  made  a  present  of 
cloth,  which  I  regretted  to  be  the  best  I  could 
do.  Then  I  told  the  chief  who  I  was  and  what 
my  business  was.  Some  of  the  white  men  came 
to  his  village  to  buy  rubber :  others  to  collect 
taxes.  Those  two  things  were  all  right  in 
their  way,  but  I  had  come  for  neither. 

I  always  took  a  Bible  with  me  and  showing 
it  to  the  chiefs,  would  explain  that  this  was 
the  revelation  of  the  heavenly  Father  to  men ; 


MPERETE'S  WAS  A  TYPICAL  VILLAGE 
MPERETE  BROUGHT  OUT  His  PRESENT 


ON  TO  MWATA  YAMVO  103 

His  letter  to  us,  and  so  I  had  brought  this  let- 
ter from  Him  to  them,  and  it  was  my  business 
to  teach  them  so  that  they  could  read  His 
letter  themselves  and  know  the  message  their 
heavenly  Father  had  sent  to  them.  I  would 
then  briefly  outline  the  salient  features  of  the 
gospel  and  say,  "But  you  will  soon  forget  what 
the  white  man  says  to  you.  The  best  thing  you 
can  do  is  to  send  your  boys  to  the  school  to 
learn  so  that  they  can  return  and  read  God's 
Book  to  you  and  keep  His  words  ever  before 
you." 

I  would  then  teach  them  a  verse  of  a  simple 
hymn,  and  by  the  time  we  left  there  would  be 
at  least  that  one  verse  committed  to  heart  and 
they  would  have  that  as  a  reminder  of  the 
message  I  had  brought. 

In  this  case,  there  were  fully  one  hundred 
and  twenty-five  as  eager  listeners  as  ever  I 
had  in  my  life.  God  grant  that  the  time  may 
not  be  far  distant  when  there  will  be  a  mis- 
sionary to  go  to  this  section  of  country  and 
reach  the  many  villages  which  now  are  sitting 
in  darkness. 

The  next  morning  as  we  were  leaving 
Mpereta's  village,  two  incidents  made  a  lasting 
impression  on  our  minds.  A  mile  from  where 
we  were  camped  just  on  the  edge  of  the  town 


104          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

was  a  phallic  emblem  post  decorated  with  the 
bleached  skulls  of  little  children,  showing  how 
the  cannibals  had  terrorized  the  country  in 
1907,  when  we  had  so  desired  to  pass  through 
this  way  and  could  not,  as  the  government 
positively  refused  to  allow  us  to  take  that 
route. 

We  might  have  been  safe  personally,  though 
one  white  man  had  been  attacked  but  a  short 
time  before  we  reached  Ruwi,  from  which  point 
we  had  to  turn  southward  out  of  our  course. 
But  certain  it  is  that  our  carriers  would  never 
have  gone  that  way.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  I 
had  to  promise  my  carriers  that  I  would  avoid 
this  cannibal  country  before  they  would  leave 
Ruwi  with  me.  Nor  can  they  be  much  blamed. 
No  one  would  relish  the  prospect  of  being 
served,  cooked  or  uncooked,  at  a  cannibal 
feast. 

This  section  was  then  under  the  government 
of  the  Kassai  Co.,  a  Belgian  rubber  trading 
company,  which  waged  war  on  these  cannibals 
and  finally  conquered  them  and  gave  peace  to 
the  Lunda  and  Chokwe  villages. 

Tribes  of  Central  Africa  differ;  most  of 
them  have  been  cannibals  at  one  time  or  an- 
other, particularly  as  regards  eating  their 
enemies  in  times  of  war,  with  the  belief  that 


ON  TO  MWATA  YAMVO  105 

the  courage  and  strength  of  the  eaten  enemies 
will  thereby  enter  into  themselves. 

In  this  way  there  has  doubtless  been  culti- 
vated in  many  of  the  tribes  a  taste  for  human 
flesh,  and  to  this  day  there  are  tribes  to  the 
north  of  the  Lunda  field  where  slaves  are  fat- 
tened for  set,  or  occasional,  feasts  and  where 
no  white  men  have  been  allowed  to  enter. 

The  other  incident  concerned  Mrs.  Springer. 
As  she  marched  out  of  the  village  nearly  a 
score  of  girls  followed  her  for  about  three 
miles,  importuning  her  to  come  and  live  there 
and  teach  them.  They  were  such  bright,  lov- 
able girls  that  it  made  her  heart  ache  to  hear 
them  and  know  that  she  could  not  accept  their 
invitation  or  respond  to  their  appeal.  I  was 
in  advance  and  did  not  see  nor  hear  them. 
These  girls  were  in  earnest.  They  had  un- 
doubtedly heard  from  Jacob  what  it  meant  to 
the  native  women  of  a  tribe  to  have  a  mission 
in  their  midst  and  so  they  ran  along  by  my 
wife's  side  for  miles,  begging  in  most  pleading 
tones  that  she  would  come  and  "sit"  (which  is 
their  word  for  living)  among  them. 

I  have  never  met  a  man  who  was  more  in- 
sistent on  having  a  missionary  than  Mpereta. 
There  was  no  suitable  place  for  a  mission  near 
his  present  village,  but  he  told  me  that  he 


106          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

intended  to  build  on  the  Luebo  River  the  next 
year.  That  meant  he  would  not  be  settled 
for  two  years — therefore  we  could  not  for  the 
present  consider  his  case.  By  the  time  he  was 
settled  we  knew  that  we  could  build  at  but 
one  place,  and  that  place  must  be  at  the  capital 
of  Mwata  Yamvo.  We  have  not  seen  Mpereta 
or  his  people  since. 

Six  miles  beyond  Mpereta's  farthest  out- 
village  we  came  to  Chipepela's  village.  He 
was  away  from  home,  but  had  left  word  that 
if  I  came  he  was  to  be  called  from  his  rubber- 
gathering  camp,  as  he  greatly  desired  to  meet 
me.  I  told  his  representative  that  I  could  not 
wait,  but  must  move  on  early  the  next  morning. 
I  met  him,  however,  the  next  year  and  found 
him  to  be  a  deep-dyed  rascal,  intriguing  for 
the  deposing  of  Mwata  Yamvo  and  aspiring 
to  fill  that  place.  He  claimed  that  he  was  the 
rightful  heir  to  this  throne. 

He  was  one  of  four  pretenders  to  the  throne 
that  we  met.  All  of  these  claimed  to  be  the 
legitimate  sons  of  former  Mwata  Yamvos, 
which  was  quite  possible.  When  a  man  has  a 
few  hundred  wives,  there  are  likely  to  be 
several  sons  all  of  whom  consider  themselves 
his  rightful  heirs. 

As  the  present  incumbent  of  the  throne  of 


ON  TO  MWATA  YAMVO  107 

the  Ltinda  country  must  know  of  these  in- 
trigues and  plots  against  his  life  and  position, 
we  came  to  realize  that  even  here  in  the  wilds 
of  Central  Africa,  as  in  other  parts  of  the 
world,  "uneasy  lies  the  head  that  wears  a 
crown." 

At  Kimpuki  we  came  to  our  first  of  the 
many  Kassai  Co.  "factories,"  as  the  Belgians 
call  them.  Here  we  met  a  Mr.  Tyson,  whose 
mother  was  an  American  woman  and  so  he 
spoke  English  perfectly,  though  his  father  was 
a  Belgian,  and  he  had  been  born  and  raised  in 
Belgium.  He  was  delighted  to  meet  us.  His 
superior,  M.  Boccar,  though  he  could  not  speak 
English,  and  at  that  time  neither  of  us  could 
speak  French,  was  also  very  hearty  in  his  wel- 
come to  us. 

This  trading  station  was  like  most  of  the 
others,  consisting  of  four  main  buildings, 
two  for  residences,  one  for  buying,  and  the 
other  for  storing  and  drying  rubber.  These 
stations  have  at  least  two  white  men  on  them 
and  more  if  needed.  Their  rule  is  that  one 
man  shall  always  be  on  the  station  and  one 
man  itinerating  in  the  villages.  Therefore 
each  white  man  is  alternately  on  the  station 
two  weeks  in  the  month  and  two  weeks  out  in 
the  villages.  Both  are  on  the  station  for  two 


108          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

or  three  days  at  the  end  of  the  month  when 
making  out  their  monthly  reports. 

Here  we  were  able  to  buy  salt  and  other 
trading  goods  to  send  back  with  Jim  and  the 
carriers  who  had  stipulated  that  this  was  as 
far  as  they  would  go.  By  the  courtesy  of  Mr. 
Boccar  and  Mr.  Tyson  we  were  also  given 
carriers  for  the  next  stage  of  our  journey.  We 
learned  here  that  we  could  not  buy  anything 
in  the  shape  of  European  food.  The  Kassai 
Co.  ration  their  white  men,  and  absolutely 
forbid  them  to  sell  any  of  their  food  supplies. 
We  have  had  them  give  us  sugar,  butter,  or  a 
few  tins  of  anything  they  could  spare,  but  it 
was  worth  a  man's  job  to  sell  a  single  thing 
that  he  received  as  rations.  This  was  to  pre- 
vent the  men  selling  their  food  for  money  and 
then  falling  ill  as  a  consequence  of  living  on 
native  food  and  having  insufficient  nourish- 
ment, a  wise  provision,  indeed. 

We  were  just  a  week  on  the  next  stage  of  the 
journey,  that  is,  from  Kimpuki  to  Kafuchi. 
We  had  all  the  carriers  we  needed  and  those 
that  were  used  to  the  trail.  The  country  was 
more  broken.  Some  of  the  ridges  were  even 
higher  in  altitude  than  Lukoshi.  We  had  left 
the  flat,  sandy  divide  country  for  a  well- 
drained,  more  sparsely  wooded  region.  Much 


ON  TO  MWATA  YAMVO  109 

of  this  country  will  some  day  be  cultivated  by 
the  white  man.  We  found  it  very  taxing  to 
push  through  the  unburned  grass  along  some 
of  these  sections,  but  were  glad  to  see  land 
that  could  be  made  to  produce  abundantly  if 
worked. 

One  forenoon  we  crossed  some  recently 
made  wagon  tracks.  It  is  impossible  to  de- 
scribe the  excitement  we  felt  at  seeing  such 
an  evidence  of  civilization  in  this  remote  place. 
We  learned  later  that  the  wagon  belonged  to 
a  Portuguese  trader  who  had  passed  along 
that  way  just  two  days  ahead  of  us. 

We  also  came  to  some  Chokwe  villages, 
where  the  people  were  characterized  by  the 
same  air  of  sullen  indifference  or  defiance  that 
we  had  noticed  among  the  Bachokwe  west  of 
the  Kassai  River  five  years  before. 

We  were  told  that  one  of  the  aspirants  for 
the  throne  of  Mwata  Yamvo  twenty-five  years 
before  this  had  gone  out  and  engaged  the 
Bachokwe  to  help  him  in  his  cause.  These  had 
invaded  the  country  and  had  made  a  diagonal 
sweep  from  south  to  north,  almost  cutting  the 
Lunda  empire  in  two.  So  that  at  the  present 
time  there  is  a  section  of  the  Alunda  who  pay 
no  tribute  to  Mwata  Yamvo,  but  who  consider 
Kayembe  Mukuru  as  their  paramount  chief. 


110          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

Among  the  Bachokwe,  every  village  stands  by 
itself  and  true  to  their  early  standards  they 
acknowledge  no  paramount  chief. 

I  find  recorded  in  our  dairy,  "We  have  been 
in  ideal  farming  country  nearly  all  day.  Eich 
red  clay,  open  veldt,  fine  streams  draining  the 
land,  and  plenty  of  forest  near  at  hand.  We 
passed  near  one  Alunda  village,  Mulamba's, 
but  as  our  guide  had  disappeared,  we  did  not 
learn  of  this  village  until  evening.  It  was  a 
little  off  our  trail  and  had  an  abundance  of 
bananas  and  plantains.  At  Ndumba's,  we 
found  the  old  sort  of  Bachokwe.  The  chief 
refused  to  come  out  or  even  see  us.  The  people 
would  not  come  either." 

The  next  day,  this  is  the  record :  "To-day  we 
have  had  plains  for  most  of  the  journey.  The 
vleis  have  extended  most  of  the  way,  making 
very  tiresome  traveling.  In  the  rains  they 
would  be  covered  with  water.  After  seven  and 
a  half  miles,  we  came  to  Nyuwamba's  village, 
a  large  Bachokwe  town.  Here,  too,  the  people 
would  have  nothing  to  do  with  us,  and  the 
chief  fairly  threw  his  present  at  us  and  stalked 
off  without  waiting  for  a  present  in  return. 
We  were  to  have  slept  there  last  night,  but  it 
is  just  as  well  that  we  did  not  reach  it." 

The  next  day  there  was  another  incident 


ON  TO  MWATA  YAMVO  111 

which  needs  a  little  more  detail  than  is  given 
in  the  diary.  There  have  not  been  many  times 
in  our  journey  ings  when  we  have  had  any 
scares  from  wild  beasts,  though  they  have  been 
all  around  us.  But  on  this  memorable  night 
we  certainly  had  a  genuine  fright. 

We  had  had  to  go  on  beyond  the  usual  camp- 
ing place  that  night  and  found  ourselves  at 
a  very  bad  spot  where  it  was  evident  no  cara- 
vans were  in  the  habit  of  sleeping.  Here  was 
a  beautiful  stream  at  the  bottom  of  a  deep 
depression  where  massive  trees,  moss  covered 
with  entwining  vines,  made  a  scene  like  fairy- 
land. Beautiful  as  it  was  we  could  not  sleep 
down  there  on  those  moss-covered  roots  of 
trees,  and  so  we  climbed  the  steep  bank  and 
into  the  open.  But  even  here  there  was  no 
good  place  to  camp  and,  indeed,  the  only  level 
place  was  in  a  bunch  of  grass  growing  eight 
feet  high. 

We  had  the  boys  clear  a  spot  for  our  tent 
and  went  to  bed  with  the  knowledge  that  we 
were  in  a  bad  situation  should  the  grass  catch 
fire  from  any  flying  sparks  from  the  camp 
fires. 

We  were  awakened  out  of  our  first  sound 
sleep  by  stealthy  footsteps  rustling  in  the  tall 
grass.  It  was  bright  moonlight  and  with  every 


112          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

sense  alert,  I  saw  the  shadow  of  an  animal's 
head  against  the  tent  and  soon  that  head 
appeared  at  the  opening  of  the  tent  door. 
From  all  I  could  see  and  hear,  I  judged  it  to 
be  a  leopard  and  I  had  no  gun  with  me.  In 
fact  the  only  implement  I  had  in  the  tent  was 
a  hoe  and  I  reached  out  and  threw  this  at  the 
animal,  yelling  at  it. 

The  animal  retired  and  I  got  up  and  re- 
covered my  hoe.  I  looked  out  of  the  tent  with 
the  wash  basin  full  of  water  in  my  hands, 
ready  to  give  the  beast  a  disheartening  souse 
should  it  be  near,  but  could  see  nothing.  On 
account  of  the  grass  we  did  not  have  our  fire 
that  night.  And  on  account  of  the  bad  loca- 
tion our  carriers  were  quite  a  distance  away. 
Of  course  I  could  have  called  them,  but  since 
the  animal  was  gone  what  was  the  use? 

It  took  us  a  little  time  to  get  quieted  down 
again  after  the  excitement,  when  we  again 
heard  that  stealthy  foot-fall  that  was  hair- 
raising  from  the  feeling  that  something  was 
creeping  upon  us  unawares,  some  evil,  one 
knows  not  what.  I  shouted  and  heard  the 
animal  bound  off  again. 

We  were  very  weary  after  the  day's  hard 
trek,  and  so  in  a  half  hour  or  so  we  were  both 
asleep  again  and  must  have  slept  an  hour  or 


ON  TO  MWATA  YAMVO  113 

two  when  Mrs.  Springer  was  suddenly  wak- 
ened by  these  same  stealthy  footsteps  just  on 
the  other  side  of  the  tent  from  her  head.  I 
gave  a  tremendous  yell  and  then  got  up  and 
went  outside,  banging  the  hoe  about  in  a  most 
threatening  way.  The  animal  bounded  off 
again,  and  after  looking  at  my  watch  and  see- 
ing that  it  was  two  o'clock,  I  went  back  to 
bed  and  after  a  while  we  went  to  sleep  and 
were  not  disturbed  again. 

The  next  morning  as  we  came  out  of  our 
tent  we  saw  a  poor,  little  half -starved  native 
dog  with  a  fiber  collar  around  his  neck.  He 
had  lost  his  master,  or  rather  his  master  had 
lost  him,  and  he  had  been  trying  to  find  some 
trace  of  him  in  our  caravan  or  else  to  get  a 
belated  supper.  In  the  moonlight  his  shadow 
had  made  him  look  like  a  huge  beast,  and  in 
the  tall  grass  his  timid  advances  had  sounded 
like  the  foot-falls  of  a  leopard.  We  coaxed 
him  to  follow  us  the  nine  miles  to  the  next 
village  and  then  left  him. 

We  have  often  found  the  tracks  of  leopards 
and  lions  which  have  been  near  our  camp  in 
the  night,  and  we  know  of  lions  that  have 
passed  right  by  our  tent  without  waking  us. 
But  it  took  this  little,  stray,  half-dead  cur  to 
give  us  the  scare  of  our  lives. 


CHAPTER  IX 
KAFUCHI  TO  MUSUMBA 

HAVING  these  men  from  the  Kassai  Co.,  we 
were  compelled  to  move  on  Sunday,  as  the  men 
would  not  rest  with  us  on  the  road. 

We  held  a  service  in  the  village  in  the  morn- 
ing and  ate  our  lunch  before  starting,  as  we 
had  but  a  few  miles  to  make.  We  had  services 
in  three  more  villages  on  the  way,  and  finally 
came  to  the  large  Chokwe  village  under  the 
chief  Kafuchi. 

Here  we  were  soon  surrounded  by  scores 
of  natives,  and  the  place  fairly  swarmed  with 
children.  We  have  seldom  ever  seen  so  many 
children  in  any  one  village.  Our  carriers  put 
down  their  loads  and  learning  that  Kafuchi 
was  not  at  home,  and  there  being  thus  no 
formalities  to  delay  us,  I  began  to  sing  and  we 
had  a  service  at  once.  The  effect  reminded  us 
of  Paul  at  Athens  where  "all  the  Athenians 
and  strangers  which  were  there  spent  their 
time  in  nothing  else,  but  either  to  tell  or  to 
hear  some  new  thing." 

So  these  people  gathered  around  us  with 

114 


KAFUCHI  TO  MUSUMBA  115 

somewhat  the  same  words  as  those  old  Athe- 
nians, "What  will  these  babblers  say?"  Some, 
"He  seemeth  to  be  a  setter  forth  of  strange 
gods."  Some,  "May  we  know  what  this  new 
doctrine  whereof  thou  speakest,  is?"  Two 
young  men  clad  in  tennis  flannels  and  smart 
tan  shoes,  hatted  and  coated  throughout  in 
Brussels  garments,  given  to  them  doubtless  by 
some  fond  master  on  his  departure  for  his 
native  land,  announced  haughtily  as  they 
fingered  their  rosaries,  "We  are  already  Chris- 
tians and  have  no  need  of  your  preaching." 

What  a  motley  crowd  it  was!  The  service 
lasted  about  an  hour,  as  I  had  several  of  my 
boys  testify  to  what  God  had  done  for  them. 
Then  as  we  arose  the  crowd  broke  up  and  we 
went  on  our  way  two  miles  to  the  Kassai  Co. 
factory.  As  we  left,  "some  mocked,  and  others 
said,  We  will  hear  thee  again  on  this  matter." 
Pioneer  preaching  in  heathen  countries  has 
not  changed  so  very  much  from  Paul's  day  to 
this. 

At  the  factory  we  met  the  Chef  du  Secteur, 
M.  Lefevre,  a  worthy  gentleman  who  spoke 
English  fluently  and  who  was  very  glad  to  wel- 
come us  and  give  us  all  the  assistance  in  his 
power. 

From  him  we  learned  the  methods  of  admin- 


116          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

istration  of  the  Kassai  Co.,  which  had  then 
about  two  hundred  factories,  mostly  along  the 
Kassai  and  Lulua  Eivers  and  their  adjoining 
districts. 

These  factories  are  grouped  into  districts 
over  which  there  is  a  superintendent  whose 
business  it  is  to  see  that  every  man  and  every 
factory  under  him  comes  up  to  the  mark.  He 
travels  almost  continually,  and  arrives  at  a 
station  often  unexpectedly,  when  he  examines 
the  books  and  goes  into  every  matter  of  detail 
of  that  station. 

As  was  said  previously,  there  are  at  least 
two  men  for  every  station,  and  each  of  these 
men  makes  very  minute  reports  at  the  end  of 
each  month,  each  quarter,  and  each  half  year, 
and  then  again  an  annual  report.  There  is  to 
be  no  loafing  on  any  of  these  stations.  The  men 
are  supposed  to  start  work  at  six  in  the  morn- 
ing and  keep  busy  until  six  o'clock  at  night, 
unless  sick  in  bed  with  fever.  No  white  man 
is  supposed  to  report  less  than  one  ton  of 
rubber  bought  per  month,  while  at  some  of  the 
better  situated  stores  they  can  get  five  tons 
a  month.  And  if  there  is  the  least  falling  off 
in  the  purchases,  a  man  is  called  strictly  to 
account. 

As  the  Chef  du  Secteur  travels  about  he 


KAFUCHI  TO  MUSUMBA  117 

stops  at  every  village  or  native  town  and  calls 
for  the  chief.  He  makes  the  chief  a  good  pres- 
ent and  then  asks  him  if  he  has  any  complaints 
to  make  either  of  the  treatment  of  the  native 
capitas  in  the  employ  of  the  Kassai  Co.  or  of 
the  white  men  at  the  nearest  station.  Any 
such  complaints  are  thoroughly  investigated 
and  justice  meted  out  to  the  villages  for  any 
injuries  sustained. 

If  any  of  the  villages  have  fallen  off  in  sup- 
plying rubber,  the  Chef  du  Secteur  gives  addi- 
tional presents  to  the  chief  to  encourage  him 
to  "make"  or  gather  more  rubber,  also  as  com- 
pensation for  sending  his  young  men  to  act  as 
carriers  in  the  transport. 

At  that  time  there  were,  as  we  said,  over  two 
hundred  factories  of  the  Kassai  Co.,  extending 
from  Stanley  Pool  to  the  Congo-Zambesi 
divide,  a  distance  of  about  eight  hundred 
miles.  They  had  an  average  of  three  white 
men  and  five  native  buyers  to  each  of  these 
factories.  In  some  sections  the  rubber  was 
so  plentiful  and  the  population  so  thick  that 
the  factories  were  only  two  miles  apart,  and 
the  men  on  these  stations  were  kept  busy  buy- 
ing rubber  from  morning  till  night. 

Each  factory  served  as  a  transport  station 
to  the  next  factory  and  there  its  responsibility 


118          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

ceased.  The  receiving  station  then  must  see 
that  the  loads  were  forwarded  to  the  next  one 
beyond  it  and  thus  a  perfect  system  of  trans- 
port had  been  worked  out  and  one  that  could 
be  operated  at  a  minimum  of  cost. 

We  were  greatly  impressed  with  the  effi- 
ciency and  thoroughness  of  the  organization 
and  conduct  of  the  whole  industry  from  a  busi- 
ness standpoint.  There  are  certain  regrettable 
features  about  it  from  another  point  of  view, 
some  of  which  may  be  mentioned  later. 

On  this  trip  we  visited  eight  of  the  Kassai 
Co.  stores  or  factories,  and  talked  with  the 
natives  in  many  of  the  villages  between,  and 
although  the  natives  complained  bitterly  about 
certain  other  agencies,  we  can  truthfully 
record  that  we  did  not  hear  a  single  complaint 
against  the  Kassai  Co.  as  to  any  financial 
dealings  between  them. 

As  to  the  missions  in  the  area  covered  by  the 
Kassai  Co.,  while  there  were  a  few  Catholic 
stations,  there  were  only  the  three  mission 
stations  of  the  Southern  Presbyterian  Church 
near  Luebo,  as  far  as  we  could  learn.  The 
company  trades  for  rubber  with  several  tribes, 
some  of  which  were  cannibal,  where  no  mis- 
sionaries of  any  denomination  had  yet  come. 

In  accordance  with  the  custom  of  the  com- 


KAFUCHI  TO  MUSUMBA  119 

pany,  the  men  who  had  brought  us  from  Kim- 
puki  turned  back  from  Kafuchi.  As  a  rule, 
no  amount  of  persuasion  or  pay  can  induce  the 
men  who  are  accustomed  to  travel  over  one 
section  to  go  on  to  another. 

Mr.  Lefevre  at  once  sent  word  to  the  chief 
Kafuchi  that  he  wanted  twelve  men,  and  the 
next  morning  they  appeared  and  were  assigned 
to  our  loads  to  go  with  us  to  Mwata  Yamvo. 
For  the  Kassai  Co.  has  not  only  a  monopoly 
on  the  trading  of  rubber  in  their  territory,  but 
also  on  the  transport  and  available  labor 
supply,  owing  to  their  generous  gifts  to  the 
native  chiefs  and  their  needs  for  such  large 
numbers  of  carriers.  This  does  not  apply  to 
Mwata  Yamvo  himself  and  his  neighborhood. 

As  the  Kassai  Co.  paid  the  carriers  and  gave 
them  salt  with  which  to  buy  their  food — charg- 
ing the  amount  in  our  bill — we  had  no  re- 
sponsibility for  feeding  these  carriers,  which 
was  a  great  relief  to  me. 

On  arriving  at  a  village,  the  business  of  food 
was  taken  up  at  once,  and  the  men  ordered  the 
women  to  cook  them  a  dish  of  food.  When 
they  finally  got  their  plates  with  the  mush 
neatly  rounded  into  a  large  ball  on  each,  and 
accompanied  by  a  little  dish  of  beans,  mush- 
rooms, caterpillars,  or  some  other  relish,  the 


120          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

men  would  protest  that  they  were  being  robbed 
outright,  and  the  women  would  stoutly  assure 
them  that  it  was  practically  a  gift  anyway 
considering  the  little  they  had  paid  for  it.  The 
conversations  were  frequently  prolonged  and 
heated  and  compliments  of  a  negative  charac- 
ter passed  freely,  but  we  learned  that  there 
were  really  no  hard  feelings  on  either  side. 
These  side  remarks  were  but  the  spice  of  the 
deal. 

We  had  an  interesting  sidelight  on  human 
nature  about  this  time  in  connection  with  our 
own  boys,  six  of  whom  were  with  us.  From 
Kimpuki  we  had  been  able  to  get  sufficient 
carriers  so  as  to  relieve  them  of  their  loads 
and  keep  them  fresh  to  take  up  the  work  of 
the  camp  when  we  halted.  So  they  were  hav- 
ing a  remarkably  easy  time.  In  addition  to 
that,  as  we  found  fowls  very  cheap  in  two  or 
three  villages,  we  decided  on  Sunday  and  on 
one  or  two  other  occasions,  to  give  them  a  treat 
of  chickens  instead  of  the  relish  they  were 
accustomed  to  have. 

The  results  were  disastrous.  The  high  liv- 
ing and  easy  time  seemed  to  set  them  up  and 
they  began  to  neglect  their  camp  duties  and 
grumble  and  growl  all  the  time.  If  I  gave 
them  chickens  one  day,  they  made  a  big  row 


KAFUCHI  TO  MUSUMBA  121 

if  they  did  not  have  them  the  next.  I  noticed 
that  if  I  gave  them  any  especial  favors  or  deli- 
cacies, I  was  sure  to  have  trouble  within  less 
than  twenty-four  hours.  So  after  one  or  two 
such  occasions,  I  took  them  aside  one  evening 
and  reviewed  the  whole  matter  and  told  them 
that  if  I  had  another  such  fuss  after  I  had 
done  something  kind  for  them  all  such  favors 
would  be  strictly  cut  off. 

The  second  day  out  we  came  to  the  trading 
store  at  Pesha,  a  sub-station  of  Kapanga,  most 
unfortunately  situated  on  low,  unhealthy 
ground,  with  few  natives  in  the  vicinity.  Here 
we  met  the  agent  in  charge  at  Kapanga  who 
was  out  assisting  M.  Lefevre. 

He  had  been  fifteen  years  in  the  Congo  and 
was  accompanied  by  his  half-caste  daughter, 
who  was  about  twelve  years  of  age.  She  was 
dressed  neatly  in  European  clothing,  which  he 
had  brought  from  Belgium  for  her  the  year 
previously. 

Here  is  one  of  the  unfortunate  and  deplor- 
able features  of  the  Kassai  Co.  They  prefer 
to  employ  single  men,  but  in  no  case  will  they 
let  any  of  their  employees  take  their  white 
wives  out  to  Africa.  In  building  a  post,  or 
factory,  a  small  hut  is  nearly  always  erected 
near  the  residence  of  the  agent  for  his  native 


122          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

mistress,  and  though  there  were  some  who  did 
not  take  a  black  woman,  the  majority  of  them 
did. 

Unfortunately  this  practice  of  having  native 
concubines  is  not  confined  solely  to  the  agents 
of  the  Kassai  Co.,  but  is  all  too  general  a  cus- 
tom all  over  Africa.  The  small  birthrate 
resulting  from  such  cohabitation  is  due  to  the 
means  the  native  women  take  to  prevent 
progeny. 

Mr.  Vanderveld's  little  girl  was  well  man- 
nered withal  and  our  hearts  ached  for  her 
future.  There  seemed  to  be  a  strong  attach- 
ment between  the  father  and  child,  though  he 
referred  to  the  mother  several  times  as  his 
"nigger,"  an  unattractive  woman  who  we 
learned  has  been  passed  on  from  one  white 
man  to  another. 

He  was  then  thinking  of  leaving  the  Congo 
soon  on  account  of  his  health  and  the  child 
would  be  left  without  a  protector.  We  parted 
from  him  not  expecting  to  see  him  again,  as 
he  had  planned  to  make  a  month's  tour  in  an- 
other direction.  But  he  was  destined  to  change 
all  his  plans  and  we  did  meet  him  once  more. 

The  next  morning  we  met  quite  a  number  of 
native  soldiers  preceding  their  Chef  du  Poste 
who  was  out  gathering  taxes.  Several  seemed 


KAFUCHI  TO  MUSUMBA  123 

inclined  to  jostle  insolently  against  Mrs. 
Springer,  and  one  or  two  of  them  tried  to  com- 
pel us  both  to  get  out  of  their  way  and  give 
them  the  whole  path.  I  stood  my  ground, 
letting  them  understand  that  I  would  not  take 
their  insolent  orders.  When  the  Chef  came 
up  he  was  very  pleasant  and  wrote  a  note  to 
his  assistant  to  give  me  any  help,  or  a  house  if 
I  wanted  it,  so  long  as  I  cared  to  remain.  Na- 
tive soldiers,  whether  Belgian  or  British,  are 
very  apt  to  be  bullies  and  very  offensive  both 
to  blacks  and  whites. 

On  this  section  we  saw  more  evidences  of 
wild  game  than  we  had  in  any  other  part  of 
this  journey.  The  country  from  Kafuchi  to 
Kapanga  was  very  broken,  reminding  us  of 
parts  of  New  England.  The  rivers  were 
parallel  to  each  other,  all  flowing  north,  and 
were  from  one  to  five  miles  apart.  The  rivers 
marked  the  same  altitude  as  Lukoshi,  but  the 
ridges  about  three  hundred  feet  higher.  Luko- 
shi was  thirty-five  hundred  feet  above  sea-level. 

These  ridges  consisted  of  the  same  rich  red 
clay  soil  that  we  have  on  our  industrial  mis- 
sion farm  at  Old  Umtali,  and  we  were  im- 
pressed with  the  promise  of  this  country  here 
for  European  occupation  and  farming.  The 
natives  do  not  like  the  red  clay  for  farming, 


124          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

as  it  is  too  hard  to  work  with  native  hoes.  But 
it  is  the  ideal  thing  for  Europeans  who  can 
cultivate  the  soil  with  cattle  and  machinery. 

We  were  also  now  out  of  the  tsetse  fly  belt 
and  found  that  many  of  the  natives  owned 
oxen.  Indeed,  in  some  of  the  villages  there 
were  a  goodly  number  of  cattle  to  be  seen. 
The  natives  have  never  worked  nor  milked 
their  cattle,  but  they  can  be  trained  to  do  both. 


CHAPTER  X 

MUSUMBA   WA   MWATA   YAMVO,   THE 
CAPITAL  OF  MWATA  YAMVO 

A  HALF  mile  from  the  capital,  just  as  we 
crossed  the  last  stream,  a  young  man  clad  in  a 
white  helmet,  checked  vest,  and  dark  blue  loin 
cloth,  came  out  to  welcome  us  to  the  Chiefs 
town.  How  he  could  have  known  of  our  com- 
ing is  one  of  those  mysteries  which  never  cease 
to  perplex  white  men.  Probably  some  messen- 
ger had  slipped  away  from  the  village  where 
we  had  eaten  lunch  six  miles  away  and  had 
notified  the  chief  that  an  unknown  white  man 
and  white  woman  were  on  the  road. 

But  no  European  courtier  could  have  wel- 
comed us  with  more  grace  than  this  Lunda  in 
the  three-piece  costume.  The  helmet  was  worn 
as  an  official  badge  after  the  mode  Belgique. 
We  learned  before  we  left  the  town  that  this 
youth,  Mbanzi,  had  the  chief  care  of  the  king's 
harem. 

Just  outside  the  outer  wall  of  the  town, 
Mwata  Yamvo  himself  advanced  to  meet  us 
and  to  lead  us  to  his  own  court,  where  he  was 

125 


126          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

living  in  an  excellent  European  tent  which 
had  been  imported  for  him  by  the  Kassai  Co. 
In  front  of  the  tent  were  two  or  three  folding 
chairs  and  a  folding  camp  table.  One  of  the 
chairs  was  draped  with  a  fine  leopard  skin, 
while  a  lion  skin  was  stretched  out  on  the 
ground  in  front  of  it.  Mwata  Yamvo  seated 
himself  in  that  after  we  had  taken  the  other 
two  chairs.  The  leopard  skin  pertains  to 
royalty  among  the  Alunda. 

The  Chief  was  dressed  in  two  white  duck 
coats  and  a  voluminous  loin  cloth.  He  wore 
an  elaborate  beaded  head-dress  most  beauti- 
fully done,  a  genuine  ornament  worthy  of  a 
paramount  chief.  His  wrists  and  ankles  were 
loaded  with  bracelets,  the  use  of  which  we  were 
to  learn  later. 

The  Chief  spoke  to  an  attendant,  handing 
him  his  bunch  of  keys,  and  very  shortly  he 
brought  a  bottle  of  champagne  and  glasses.  We 
thanked  the  Chief  most  cordially,  but  declined 
to  let  him  open  it  for  us.  Thinking  that  we 
did  not  like  that  particular  drink,  the  Chief 
ordered  port  wine  and  that  was  brought.  This 
we  also  refused,  and  in  perplexity  he  offered 
his  own  favorite  drink,  palm  wine.  At  last 
we  succeeded  in  assuring  him  that  we  took 
nothing  stronger  than  water,  which  was 


MUSUMBA   WA   MWATA  YAMVO          127 

brought  in  a  large  white  stoneware  pitcher. 
The  Chief  then  offered  me  cigarettes  which,  of 
course,  I  also  declined  with  profuse  thanks, 
and  then  I  had  Jacob  explain  to  the  Chief  that 
this  particular  breed  of  a  white  man,  the  likes 
of  which  he  had  never  seen  before,  neither 
drank  alcoholic  liquors  nor  smoked  tobacco. 
The  Chief  took  Jacob  aside  a  few  days  later 
and  said  in  explanation  of  his  offers  at  this 
time  that  he  had  had  a  visit  from  a  Catholic 
priest  only  the  week  before  we  came  and  that 
he  had  accepted  both  wine  and  cigarettes. 

As  soon  as  we  had  had  refreshments,  the 
Chief  said  most  courteously  that  he  was  de- 
lighted to  have  us  as  his  guests  and  that  he 
would  show  us  where  wre  could  pitch  our  tent 
and  make  ourselves  as  comfortable  as  possible. 
He  said  that  he  was  very  sorry  not  to  have  a 
house  to  place  at  our  disposal,  but  he  had  been 
on  his  present  site  only  two  months  and  did 
not  even  have  his  own  house  finished,  but,  as 
we  could  see,  had  to  live  in  a  tent  himself.  He 
said  that  he  had  a  guest  house  building,  and 
that  if  we  would  remain  until  it  was  done  he 
would  be  very  glad  to  put  it  at  our  service. 

He  led  the  way  to  show  us  where  we  were 
to  camp  in  the  compound  next  to  his  own,  and 
as  we  advanced  Mrs.  Springer  fell  back  some 


128          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

paces  with  the  little  black  box  which  she  car- 
ried innocently  under  her  arm.  A  half  hour 
later,  as  she  snapped  a  group  of  the  royal 
harem,  the  click  of  the  shutter  called  'their 
attention  to  it  and  immediately  the  \vord  went 
round  that  this  was  a  camera  and  that  the 
white  woman  was  taking  photos.  These  girls 
were  used  to  camera  work  by  the  Belgians,  for 
whom  they  had  posed  many  a  time. 

This  was  another  one  of  our  surprises.  At 
Kazembe's  and  all  along  the  way  we  had  seen 
only  the  rawrest  heathenism  and  the  crudest 
specimens  of  heathens.  The  whole  atmosphere 
had  suddenly  changed.  Here  was  a  chief  show- 
ing us  as  gracious  hospitality  as  any  monarch 
in  Europe  could  have  done,  for  the  grace  of 
hospitality  does  not  consist  in  the  amount  one 
has  to  offer,  but  in  the  manner  in  which  it  is 
given. 

We  found  here  a  true  metropolitan  air.  The 
natives  in  this  town  no  longer  marveled  at  the 
wonderful  things  possessed  by  the  white  man, 
for  they  were  used  to  them.  The  town  had 
been  for  six  years  within  a  short  distance  of 
both  the  government  post  at  Kapanga  and  the 
Kassai  Co.  factory,  and  these  two  places  alone 
had  some  six  white  men  connected  with  them 
more  or  less  permanently,  besides  many  tran- 


MUSUMBA  WA  MWATA  YAMVO          129 

sients,  and  then  there  had  been  the  presence  of 
the  Forminiere  prospectors.  So  that  the  in- 
mates of  the  capital  were  well  sophisticated 
along  many  occidental  lines — too  much  so. 

The  carriers  whom  I  got  from  Mr.  Lefevre 
insisted  that  they  must  go  right  on  that  day 
to  the  Kassai  Co.  store,  and  so,  leaving  Mrs. 
Springer  to  supervise  the  erection  of  the  tent 
and  get  settled  for  the  night,  I  had  to  go  on 
six  miles  with  these  men,  or  what  was  seven 
and  a  half  by  the  route  I  took  via  the  govern- 
ment Poste. 

There  were  three  centers  here,  Musumba,  or 
the  capital  of  Mwata  Yamvo;  Kapanga,  the 
government  Poste  six  miles  to  the  southwest; 
and  Mwini  Kapanga,  the  store  .or  factory  of 
the  Kassai  Co.,  a  mile  and  a  half  north  of  the 
government  Poste,  but  only  six  miles  from 
Musumba  by  a  direct  route. 

At  the  government  Poste,  I  met  M.  Vermees, 
a  young  lieutenant,  a  most  amiable  and  viva- 
cious young  man  on  whom  the  responsibilities 
of  life  and  government  would  never  weigh  too 
heavily.  He  lamented  that  his  rations  were 
six  months  overdue  and  so  he  could  not  offer 
me  any  wine,  therefore  he  accompanied  me  to 
the  Kassai  Co.  store  and  did  full  justice  to  the 
wine  offered  there. 


130          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

At  the  Kassai  Co.  store,  where  I  met  Mr. 
Till,  a  Luxemburger,  I  saw  a  large  amount 
of  wine  in  huge  demijohns,  which  were  to  be 
presents  to  Mwata  Yamvo,  a  certain  amount 
being  furnished  him  each  month  as  an  ac- 
knowledgment of  his  services  in  supplying 
them  carriers  and  as  an  inducement  to  keep 
on  doing  the  same. 

I  did  not  get  back  to  the  tent  until  quite 
dark,  when  I  found  that  the  Chief  had  sent 
me  a  goat  as  a  present,  which  I  had  killed  and, 
as  is  customary,  sent  him  a  hind  quarter.  The 
next  day  I  sent  him  a  blanket  that  I  had 
brought,  a  gorgeous  one  with  a  bright  purple 
ground  dotted  with  leopard  spots. 

That  evening  I  took  Jacob  and  went  into 
the  Chief's  compound  to  see  him  and  to  tell 
him  that  I  wanted  twelve  carriers  to  go  on 
with  me  in  two  days'  time.  He  said  that  he 
could  not  possibly  consent  to  our  making  so 
short  a  visit  and  that  we  must  stay  with  him 
at  least  six  days. 

This  reminds  we  that  I  have  not  yet  given 
the  plan  of  Mwata  Yamvo's  town,  which  was 
different  from  anything  we  had  ever  seen.  It 
was  rectangular,  six  hundred  paces  long  by 
four  hundred  wide.  When  I  first  found  how 
perfectly  it  was  squared  and  how  it  wras 


MUSUMBA  WA   MWATA  YAMVO          131 

divided  into  sixteen  different  courts  or  com- 
pounds on  the  inside,  I  concluded  that  he  had 
had  some  European  assistance  in  laying  it  out. 

But  both  his  own  men  and  later  Mr.  Ver- 
mees  told  me  that  he  had  laid  it  out  without 
any  European  help  whatever.  Some  time  after 
I  found  in  Livingstone's  notes,  written  in  1854, 
a  description  of  the  town  of  Mwata  Yamvo, 
given  him  by  the  natives  as  he  crossed  a  corner 
of  the  Lunda  country,  and  I  found  that  it 
tallied  very  well  with  this.  Evidently  this  is 
the  style  of  town  which  has  been  used  for  the 
capital  of  Mwata  Yamvo  for  about  a  hundred 
years.  These  courts  were  all  divided  by  fences 
eight  to  ten  feet  high,  and  made  opaque  by 
binding  on  grass  or  boughs  of  trees. 

The  nights  were  very  cold  at  this  season; 
the  mornings  and  evenings  were  also  very 
chilly,  but  the  days  were  very  hot  owing  to 
our  having  no  shade  until  afternoon.  The  tent 
was  suffocatingly  hot  until  late  in  the  after- 
noon when  the  shadow  of  the  fence  fell  upon 
it.  At  noon  we  sought  the  shadow  of  the  hut 
of  two  or  three  of  the  Chief's  favorite  wives  in 
which  to  eat  our  noonday  meal.  At  one  o'clock 
there  was  shade  enough  by  our  fence  in  front 
of  the  tent. 

Had  we  come  two  or  three  months  later,  we 


132          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

might  have  been  very  comfortable  in  the  guest 
house,  but  our  ten  days  at  this  time  without 
shelter  or  any  privacy  whatever  made  our  stay 
in  many  respects  very  unpleasant  in  spite  of 
all  the  Chief's  desire  to  make  us  comfortable. 

The  next  day  was  Sunday.  The  Chief,  as 
was  his  custom,  departed  about  ten  o'clock 
for  an  official  visit  to  the  government  Poste 
to  which  he  carried  a  large  present  of  native 
meal,  a  goat,  some  fowls,  etc.  Of  course  he 
received  a  present  in  return  covering  its  full 
value,  often  in  francs,  but  he  was  required  to 
make  this  contribution  weekly  and  he  always 
made  the  trip  on  Sunday  unless  ill  or  otherwise 
detained.  He  was  escorted  out  of  the  town 
by  the  big  drum  which  preceded  him,  and  a 
large  body  of  retainers  followed  the  machilla 
in  which  he  was  carried. 

We  had  a  large  crowd  at  the  service  held 
early  in  the  morning  and  at  another  that  eve- 
ning and  we  held  several  smaller  services 
during  the  day,  the  Chief  being  present  at  the 
one  held  about  sundown.  On  the  part  of  the 
Chief  and  of  all  his  people  there  was  a  marked 
appreciation  of  the  fact  that  the  services  were 
all  in  Luunda,  their  native  tongue,  the  hymns, 
the  speech,  and  everything  connected  with  the 
service.  The  Catholic  who  had  been  there  but 


THE  CHIEF  GOING  FOR  His  OFFICIAL  VISIT  TO  THE  POSTE 
MWATA  WAS  PRESENT  AT  THE  EVENING  SERVICE 


MUSUMBA  WA  MWATA  YAMVO          133 

two  weeks  before  our  arrival  was  the  only 
other  missionary  that  they  had  ever  seen,  and 
neither  he  nor  anyone  with  him  could  speak 
the  Luunda.  This  was  one  of  the  strongest 
reasons  why  Mwata  Yamvo  and  his  people 
favored  our  Mission  from  the  very  first. 

While  we  were  at  breakfast — and  by  the  by, 
it  was  a  very  slim  one,  as  we  had  not  been  able 
to  take  much  from  Lukoshi  and  could  not  buy 
any  European  provisions  on  the  way,  so  that 
we  had  been  reduced  largely  to  native  food — a 
messenger  came  with  a  letter.  We  had  heard 
at  Kafuchi  that  there  was  an  American  pros- 
pector named  Young  not  far  from  Kapanga, 
and  on  Saturday  I  had  written  him  a  note  say- 
ing that  we  were  at  Musumba  and  trusted  that 
he  might  find  it  convenient  to  come  over  and 
meet  us,  as  he  wras  but  twelve  miles  away.  Mr. 
Vermees  told  me  that  he  was  in  the  habit  of 
sending  Mr.  Young  two  bottles  of  milk  a  day 
and  that  the  same  boy  would  take  my  note. 

Mr.  Vermees  had  now  forwarded  the  reply 
to  me.  Mr.  Young  expressed  a  strong  wish  to 
meet  both  Mrs.  Springer  and  myself,  but  as 
he  was  collecting  a  caravan  and  had  some  of 
the  men  there,  he  dared  not  leave  them  and 
come  over  to  us.  Would  we  not,  therefore, 
come  to  see  him?  He  was  expecting  to  leave 


134          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

on  Wednesday  morning  for  good,  so  that  if  we 
could,  he  wished  us  to  come  Monday. 

So  I  sent  Jacob  to  Mwata  Yamvo  asking  if 
he  could  give  me  eight  men  to  go  with  us  and 
come  back  on  the  morrow.  He  had  them  there 
inside  of  an  hour  and  we  were  delighted  with 
the  four  assigned  to  Mrs.  Springer's  machilla. 
These  men  had  been  trained  for  this  very  kind 
of  carrying  in  the  Kassai  Co.  and  two  of  them 
could  carry  for  miles  without  changing. 

Passing  the  government  station  that  morn- 
ing, Mr.  Vermees  again  regretted  that  he  had 
no  refreshments  to  offer  us  unless — here  a 
sudden  thought  struck  him — unless  we  would 
accept  a  ripe  pawpaw.  Wouldn't  we !  So  two 
large,  luscious  pawpaws  were  brought  out  and 
we  enjoyed  them  as  only  those  who  have  been 
deprived  of  fruit  for  years  can  do.  The  idea 
that  all  parts  of  Africa  abound  in  bananas  and 
other  tropical  fruits  is  one  of  the  greatest  and 
most  persistent  fallacies.  Throughout  thou- 
sands of  square  miles  of  Central  Africa  the 
natives  raise  no  fruit  at  all  and  where  they  do 
it  is  in  small  quantities. 

Just  beyond  the  government  Poste,  we  came 
to  the  village  of  the  chief  Kapanga  for  which 
the  poste  is  named,  a  village  second  in  impor- 
tance to  Musumba.  Here  we  were  surrounded 


MUSUMBA   WA   MWATA   YAMVO          135 

by  admiring  groups  of  women  also.  For  while 
white  men  were  a  common  enough  sight,  Mrs. 
Springer  was  the  first  white  woman  to  visit 
this  region.  We  secured  our  ferryman  and 
proceeded  to  the  Lulua  River,  where  we  were 
ferried  across  in  a  large  and  commodious  dug- 
out. The  river  at  this  point  was  exactly  three 
thousand  feet  above  sea-level  and  some  three 
hundred  feet  in  width.  In  the  rainy  season 
it  covered  the  flat  lands  on  either  side  until 
it  was  a  half  mile  to  a  mile  in  width. 

There  were  plenty  of  fish  to  be  caught  in  the 
river,  and  also  plenty  of  hippopotami.  We 
saw  their  spoor  on  the  river  banks.  Both  the 
white  men  and  the  natives  were  able  to  shoot 
some  of  these  mammoth  creatures  from  time 
to  time.  Fortunately  we  saw  none  of  them  in 
our  several  crossings  of  the  Lulua  at  this  time. 
They  are  dangerous  animals,  accustomed  to 
charge  on  native  canoes. 

On  the  other  side,  our  path  followed  up  the 
river  for  about  three  miles,  and  two  miles  be- 
yond we  came  to  the  small  station,  or  depot, 
of  the  Forminiere  Co.,  where  we  were  most 
heartily  welcomed  by  a  man  who  had  not  seen 
a  white  woman  for  two  years,  an  Englishman 
who  had  been  naturalized  in  the  United  States. 

Mr.  Young  served  the  inevitable  and  most 


136          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

acceptable  tea  on  our  arrival  and  regretted 
that  the  delay  of  his  own  "chop  boxes,"  three 
months  overdue,  prevented  his  giving  us  what 
he  called  a  good  dinner.  But  after  weeks  of 
subsisting  almost  entirely  on  sour  mush  and 
native  fowls,  his  roast  pigeon,  carrots,  tinned 
beans,  and,  last  but  not  least,  plum  pudding, 
was  a  feast  fit  for  kings.  Most  of  all,  we  en- 
joyed eating  bread  once  more.  There  is  noth- 
ing we  miss  more  when  obliged  to  do  without 
our  accustomed  food  than  bread.  And  when 
we  have  bread  we  hardly  mind  any  other  lack. 

We  learned  from  Mr.  Young  that  evening 
that  he  represented  a  concession  known  as 
the  Forminiere,  a  term  condensing  the  French 
for  Forests  and  Mines.  This  is  an  American- 
Belgian  Company  in  which  the  Ryan  combina- 
tion of  capitalists  is  largely  interested.  The 
company  had  been  given  three  large  conces- 
sions by  King  Leopold.  This  one  was  bounded 
by  the  Lulua  River  on  the  east  and  the  Kassai 
and  Kwango  Rivers  on  the  west,  giving  the 
company  the  exclusive  right  to  prospect  for 
minerals  for  a  certain  number  of  years.  As 
the  concession  would  expire  in  a  year,  the  com- 
pany was  seeking  to  have  this  section  thor- 
oughly prospected  this  year. 

Two  other  Americans  were  prospecting  to 


MUSUMBA  WA   MWATA  YAMVO          137 

the  south,  and  we  had  the  pleasure  of  meeting 
them  later  on. 

Mr.  Young  had  spent  most  of  his  time  to 
the  north  in  quest  of  diamonds  and  we  saw 
two  small  bottles  of  diamonds  which  he  had 
found.  We  learned  much  from  him  of  sections 
of  country  hitherto  untouched  by  white  men, 
some  among  the  fierce  cannibal  tribes  to  the 
north.  We  were  impressed,  in  meeting  him 
and  later  his  two  companions,  with  the  hard- 
ships they  had  had  to  undergo  in  their  work 
of  seeking  out  the  mineral  'wealth  of  this  dark 
continent. 

In  the  small  house  used  as  a  store  depot  we 
saw  shovels,  picks,  drills,  forges,  tackle  for 
windlass,  tents,  and  outfits  that  had  been 
brought  here  at  great  expense.  In  comparison, 
our  entire  outfit  for  mission  work  was  insig- 
nificant, arid  once  again  we  had  impressed 
upon  us  the  greater  and  readier  resources  of 
all  secular  agencies  in  Africa. 

In  a  great  deal  of  this  mining  work  the 
funds  were  not  supplied  by  men  of  wealth,  but 
by  the  common  people.  Too  often  these  gener- 
ous supplies  represent  the  hard  earned  moneys 
of  comparatively  poor  people,  who  have  had 
their  imaginations  inflamed  with  the  prospect 
of  getting  rich  quickly  and  have  given  their 


138          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

savings  of  years,  never  to  see  them  again.  It 
is  strange  how  generous  and  credulous  people 
become  when  they  think  there  will  be  a  per- 
sonal profit  in  the  end.  Could  we  but  have  a 
tithe  of  the  money  that  has  come  from  Meth- 
odist pockets  and  has  been  wasted  in  mining 
or  so-called  mining  operations,  our  own  Mis- 
sion could  flourish. 

We  had  used  up  the  very  last  of  our  flour 
the  morning  that  we  went  to  see  Mr.  Young, 
and  had  practically  nothing  else  in  the  way  of 
European  provisions.  We  were  concerned 
about  the  return  trip,  as  Mrs.  Springer  was 
nearly  ill  from  eating  sour  mush,  and  there 
was  no  hope  of  getting  anything  at  the  Kassai 
Co.  stores. 

But  Mr.  Young,  with  a  rare  spirit  of  hos- 
pitality and  probably  prompted  by  his  own 
experience  of  being  short  on  the  veldt  when 
transport  facilities  failed  to  connect  him  with 
the  liberal  provision  cases  sent  him  by  his  com- 
pany, made  repeated  and  pointed  inquiries  as 
to  our  supplies  until  he  learned  the  situation. 
He  then  insisted  on  our  taking  one  twenty- 
eight-pound  case  of  flour,  an  assortment  o£ 
tinned  meat,  and  pickles  enough  to  take  us 
back  to  Lukoshi,  a  true  God-send  to  us. 


CHAPTER  XI 

AT  MUSUMBA 

(Continued) 

ANOTHER  evidence  of  the  thoughtfulness  of 
Mr.  Young  was  seen  the  next  morning  as  our 
tent  was  being  taken  down  and  our  things 
packed  for  leaving.  He  called  me  into  the 
house  and  asked  me  privately  if  I  had  enough 
money  to  see  me  back  to  Lukoshi. 

I  replied  that  I  was  quite  sure  that  I  had 
plenty  of  cash  for  the  remainder  of  the  trip 
home. 

"Well,"  said  he,  "I  have  quite  a  bit  of  loose 
cash  that  I  do  not  need,  as  I  am  going  right  out 
onto  the  veldt  where  there  will  be  no  oppor- 
tunity to  spend  money  in  any  case,  and  you 
are  quite  welcome  to  take  it  if  you  like." 

Now  I  have  found  that  it  is  never  well  to 
refuse  money  when  it  is  offered  and  I  have 
always  had  cause  to  regret  it  sooner  or  later 
if  I  did  so.  The  thought  came  to  my  mind  that 
this  might  be  a  provision  for  some  unknown 
need  that  might  soon  arise. 

"But,"  I  replied,  "how  could  I  get  the  money 

139 


140          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

back  to  you?  There  is  no  direct  connection 
between  Lukoshi  and  Kapanga  and,  as  you 
know,  there  is  not  even  a  mail  route."  For  at 
that  time  the  government  had  no  mail  route 
from  Kapanga  in  any  direction.  The  Kassai 
Co.  received  and  forwarded  mail  to  the  north 
and  out  by  the  mouth  of  the  Congo. 

"That  is  all  right,"  said  Mr.  Young.  "You 
can  send  a  check  to  my  banking  account  in 
England." 

"In  that  case,"  I  answered,  "I  will  be  very 
glad  to  take  what  you  wish  to  spare.  How 
much  will  that  be?" 

"I  can  easily  let  you  have  five  hundred 
francs,"  he  replied.  That  is  about  one  hun- 
dred dollars. 

So  I  took  the  cash,  all  in  specie,  weighing 
several  pounds.  And  though  it  is  a  very  un- 
usual thing  for  me,  I  entirely  forgot  to  give 
him  a  receipt  for  it,  and  I  am  certain  that  the 
thought  of  a  receipt  never  entered  his  mind 
either.  It  was  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
incidents  that  have  occurred  to  me  in  Africa. 

After  breakfast  we  bade  farewell  to  this 
man  whom  we  had  seen  for  the  first  time  but 
the  day  before  and  whom  we  might  never  see 
again,  and  yet  toward  whom  we  had  already 
felt  a  genuine  affection  as  of  one  belonging  to 


AT  MUSUMBA  141 

our  own  kith  and  kin,  and  moved  on  back 
down  the  river  toward  Musumba. 

On  our  way  we  met  the  lad  from  the  Poste 
with  his  bottles  of  milk  which  he  was  taking  to 
Mr.  Young.  We  found  on  reaching  the  Lulua 
that  this  youth  had  crossed  the  river  in  the 
ferry  canoe  and  had  hidden  the  paddles  some- 
where in  the  grass  so  cleverly  that  no  amount 
of  searching  on  our  part  revealed  them. 

We  shouted  across  the  river  and  after  a  long 
time  induced  the  ferryman  to  come  over  in  an 
old  canoe  that  had  its  sides  all  plastered  up 
with  clay.  He  hunted  for  the  paddles,  but 
finally  left  the  old  canoe  and  took  us  over  in 
the  good  one.  It  was  thus  past  noon  when  we 
reached  the  Poste  and  Mr.  Vermees  would  not 
hear  of  our  going  on  without  something  to  eat. 
He  said  that  he  had  nothing  fit  to  set  before 
us,  but  what  he  had  would  at  least  keep  us 
from  going  away  hungry. 

The  government  Poste  was  nearly  a  mile 
from  Kapanga's  town  and  was  beautifully 
situated  on  the  highest  rise  of  land  in  that 
vicinity.  One  came  up  a  broad  path  with  large 
gardens  of  the  tall,  graceful  cassava  on  either 
side.  The  soil  was  of  the  rich,  red  clay  before 
mentioned,  and  the  cassava  gardens  were  well 
set  off  by  their  terra  cotta  background. 


142          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

The  Poste  itself  had  at  that  time  three  large 
burnt-brick  residences  for  its  officers,  and 
numerous  other  buildings.  Flower  beds,  paw- 
paw, and  lemon  trees  and  bananas  were 
arranged  to  give  a  parklike  appearance.  From 
the  main  residences  one  could  look  over  the 
valley  to  where  the  Lulua  River,  a  mile  away, 
gleamed  like  a  wide  silver  ribbon  in  the  sun. 

They  had  a  herd  of  about  fifty  cattle,  and  so 
had  all  the  milk  they  needed  for  their  own  use 
besides  supplying  Mr.  Young  and  the  Kassai 
Co.  as  well.  They  made  their  own  butter,  no 
small  item  when  tinned  butter  cost  fully  two 
dollars  a  pound. 

Our  lunch  that  day  consisted  of  fried  sweet 
potatoes,  fried  plantains,  fried  eggs,  and 
coffee  with  fresh  milk  in  it.  Mr.  Vermees  had 
no  bread,  as  his  flour  was  all  exhausted,  though 
he  said  that  he  was  expecting  his  "chop  boxes," 
meaning  provisions,  every  day  and  had  been 
for  months. 

He  had  a  large  amount  of  coffee,  which  had 
been  brought  by  him  from  Matadi.  This  coffee, 
which  has  a  very  excellent  flavor,  grows  wild 
on  the  lower  Congo,  below  Boma.  He  insisted 
on  giving  us  several  pounds,  which  we  roasted 
and  used  on  reaching  home,  and  we  greatly 
regretted  when  we  had  used  the  last  of  it  that 


AT  MUSUMBA  143 

we  could  not  get  more  of  the  same  flavor  and 
quality.  For  the  journey  home  we  were  glad 
for  the  tin  of  roasted,  ground  coffee  (also  for 
a  pound  of  tea)  given  us  by  Mr.  Young. 

It  was  nearly  sunset  when  we  reached 
Mwata  Yamvo's,  and  as  we  entered  the  town 
a  crowd  of  people  numbering  at  least  four 
hundred  gathered  around  us  and  welcomed  us 
back.  We  held  a  service  at  once  while  we  had 
them  all  together,  and  the  picture  of  that 
heathen  crowd  gathered  around  us  just  as  the 
last  rays  of  the  setting  sun  touched  up  the 
court  and  finally  died  away  was  one  we  shall 
never  forget. 

Our  two  days  of  absence  had  worked  out 
well.  I  had  left  Jacob  behind  with  instruc- 
tions to  gather  all  the  information  possible. 
On  our  return  I  found  that  the  Chief  had  used 
this  opportunity  to  get  all  the  information  he 
could  out  of  Jacob.  He  had  sent  for  Jacob 
two  or  three  times  and  asked  him  all  sorts  of 
questions  concerning  us,  what  we  did  with  our 
boys,  whether  we  abused  them  or  oppressed 
them,  and  what  we  taught  them.  He  could 
converse  with  Jacob  in  the  Luunda  and  this 
mightily  pleased  him. 

He  was  particularly  interested  in  the  story 
of  the  atonement  and  asked  Jacob  many  in- 


144          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO  , 

telligent  questions  about  it.  Then  the  next  day 
he  had  called  for  Jacob  and  requested  him  to 
tell  the  story  over  again.  He  seemed  to  realize 
what  would  be  involved  if  he  accepted  Christ 
but  so  far  has  not  taken  the  step.  But  he  was 
sure  of  one  thing  at  the  end  of  those  two  days 
— that  he  wanted  a  missionary  to  come  and 
live  among  and  teach  his  people.  And  when 
I  went  to  see  him  the  next  day,  he  said  that 
he  wanted  especially  a  medical  missionary. 

This  Mwata  Yamvo  had  now  been  ruling  for 
about  five  years,  which  coincided  approxi- 
mately with  the  time  in  which  the  Government 
had  taken  over  the  administration  from  the 
Kassai  Co.  At  the  time  of  his  accession  they 
found  tribal  matters  were  in  a  rather  chaotic 
state  owing  to  the  advance  of  the  Bachokwe 
and  the  intrigues  of  the  aspirants  for  the 
Lunda  throne. 

After  careful  inquiry,  the  Government 
learned  that  the  present  ruler  was  the  one 
really  acknowledged  to  be  the  next  in  succes- 
sion, though  he  was  held  practically  as  a 
prisoner  by  one  of  the  larger  Chokwe  chiefs 
near  the  Congo-Zambesi  border,  not  more  than 
one  hundred  miles  west  of  Lukoshi. 

They  had  procured  his  freedom  and  he  had 
chosen  the  site  for  his  capital  a  mile  north 


AT  MUSUMBA  145 

of  the  present  one.  This  was  before  the  Gov- 
ernment established  a  Poste  at  Kapanga. 
When  they  did  so  they  required  the  Chief  to 
move  to  within  a  mile  of  them  and  he  had  lived 
there  for  five  years. 

But  he  had  had  no  end  of  trouble  with  the 
native  soldiers  employed  by  the  Government, 
and  had  asked  repeatedly  to  be  allowed  to 
move  further  away,  until  at  last  the  request 
had  been  granted,  and  two  months  previously, 
at  the  close  of  the  rainy  season,  he  had  come 
to  his  present  site. 

The  policy  of  this  Government,  as  with  the 
British  Government  in  Rhodesia,  is  to  admin- 
ister the  country  as  far  as  possible  through 
the  paramount  chiefs  when  there  are  such. 
Thus  Mwata  Yamvo  was  not  merely  a  figure- 
head, but  a  man  of  no  little  responsibility.  He 
had  native  soldiers  of  his  own,  and  one  of  the 
first  buildings  to  be  completed  in  his  town, 
even  before  his  own  residence,  was  a  jail.  He 
was  judge  of  the  supreme  court,  dealing  with 
a  large  number  of  native  cases. 

He  had  a  considerable  income,  too.  He  had 
five  per  cent  commission  on  all  the  rubber  that 
was  brought  to  the  Kapanga  store  of  the 
Kassai  Co.,  and  sixty  centimes,  or  twelve  cents 
of  our  money,  for  each  carrier  supplied  to  any 


146          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

and  all  parties.  Mr.  Vanderveld  told  us  that 
Mwata  Yamvo  had  supplied  the  company  with 
no  less  than  two  thousand  carriers  during  the 
previous  January  and  February. 

He  had  the  entire  control  of  the  carriers  in 
his  kingdom,  particularly  in  the  region  near 
his  capital.  No  one  else  could  get  carriers  in 
a  native  village.  They  must  be  obtained 
through  the  Chief. 

At  present  there  were  four  parties  of  us 
asking  for  carriers:  the  Government  wanted 
one  hundred  to  go  to  Dilolo ;  the  Store  wanted 
several  hundred,  but  had  a  rush  order  for  two 
hundred;  (the  Chief  du  Secteur  had  fifty  men 
engaged  for  six  months) ;  Mr.  Young  was  urg- 
ing the  delivery  of  the  rest  of  the  fifty  he 
required;  and  last  and  least,  we  wanted  the 
modest  number  of  twelve  to  take  us  to  Dilolo, 
or  at  least  to  Katola,  which  was  nearly  half 
way. 

Mwata  Yamvo's  method  of  getting  men  was 
this :  he  would  send  his  messengers  out  to  sub- 
chiefs  telling  each  how  many  men  he  required. 
Sometimes  they  came  and  sometimes  not. 
When  a  call  became  urgent,  he  would  send 
one  of  his  bracelets  or  anklets  by  the  messen- 
ger. This  meant  business. 

On  one  occasion  during  our  stay  in  his  town, 


AT  MUSUMBA  147 

a  messenger  returned  and  reported  that  a  cer- 
tain chief  said  that  he  could  not  supply  the 
men  at  present.  Mwata  Yamvo  with  an  im- 
patient gesture  pulled  off  one  of  his  bracelets, 
handed  it  to  the  man,  and  told  him  to  go  and 
bring  with  him  the  men  required.  And  they 
came,  for  they  knew  that  if  they  did  not,  the 
king's  soldiers  would  come  and  trouble  would 
be  brewing. 

We  found  Mwata  Yamvo  to  be  a  very  busy, 
hard-working  monarch.  He  not  only  had  the 
task  of  sending  out  for  carriers,  receiving  them 
and  assigning  them  to  their  respective  duties, 
but  he  had  to  sit  almost  daily  on  native  cases 
that  were  brought  to  him  as  the  supreme  judge. 
Also  he  had  about  one  hundred  and  fifty 
natives  at  work  building  the  town,  and  though 
he  had  capable  overseers  all  around,  yet  he  had 
to  look  after  the  work  in  general  himself. 

Pood  was  very  scarce  in  the  town,  and  it  was 
no  easy  matter  to  get  enough  of  it  for  all  of 
his  workmen,  many  of  whom,  by  the  way,  came 
from  the  Portuguese  side  of  the  Kassai.  That 
part  of  Angola  was  not  administered  by  the 
Portuguese  and  was  another  no-man's-la»nd  so 
far  as  European  occupation  was  concerned. 
But  being  Lunda  people  they  acknowledged 
Mwata  Yamvo  as  their  king  and  supplied  the 


148          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

workmen  required  for  the  building  of  his  capi- 
tal. 

Now,  as  was  said,  it  was  difficult  to  get  food 
enough  for  this  army,  so  Mwata  Yamvo  found 
that  he  had  to  do  as  nearly  all  the  white  men 
of  the  country  have  to  do,  and  that  is  to  give 
out  the  rations  himself  to  prevent  waste. 
About  six  o'clock  the  drum  would  sound  and 
we  would  see  the  men  going  by  scores  into  the 
next  compound  to  ours  and  there  they  would 
receive  their  rations  for  the  following  day. 

There  was  a  daily  market  held  just  outside 
the  north  gate  where  native  meal,  dried  fish, 
meat,  eggs,  fowls,  beans,  potatoes,  and  sundry 
other  things  were  brought  for  sale,  but  there 
was  not  an  abundance  and  the  prices  were 
high.  Our  boys  complained  continually  of  the 
high  prices  even  when  I  had  greatly  increased 
their  ration-funds,  consisting  of  beads,  salt, 
needles,  etc. 

Mwata  Yamvo  had  quite  a  herd  of  cattle, 
also  pigs,  sheep,  and  goats.  He  did  not  milk 
his  cattle,  much  to  our  regret.  Most  of  his 
wives  kept  fowls,  and  he  was  keen  on  breeding 
dogs,  for  which  he  could  get  a  good  price.  He 
had  paid  the  sum  of  sixty  dollars  for  one 
beautiful  shepherd  dog  brought  from  Belgium. 
Her  name  was  Antoinette,  and  the  natives 


AT  MUSUMBA  149 

called  her  Toneta.  It  is  a  decided  novelty 
among  the  natives  to  find  a  dog  with  a  name. 
There  was  another  large  male  dog  in  the  town, 
which  the  Chief  had  bought  from  one  of  the 
agents  of  the  Kassai  Co.,  but  we  did  not  learn 
how  much  he  had  paid  for  him. 

As  has  been  said,  Mwata  Yamvo  had  a  very 
considerable  revenue  from  the  Kassai  Co.  and 
from  other  sources,  and  as  there  were  no  other 
stores  in  the  country,  the  Kassai  Co.  saw  to 
it  that  Mwata  Yamvo's  wants  were  supplied. 
They  had  sold  him  his  tent  and  furniture, 
his  dishes,  etc.  Anything  else  that  he  saw  and 
fancied  could  be  obtained  through  the  Com- 
pany. It  was  through  them  that  he  bought 
all  his  champagne,  wines,  and  other  foreign 
liquors.  The  presents  he  received  from  the 
Forminier  Company  consisted  of  native  cloth, 
other  trade  goods,  and  cash. 

The  British  have  made  a  wise  law  which  is 
stringently  carried  out  prohibiting  the  sale  of 
intoxicants  to  the  natives.  Colonel  Harveld 
tried  to  get  the  same  law  enacted  for  the 
Katanga,  but  the  Belgians  claim  that  logically 
if  we  are  to  recognize  and  establish  full  rights 
for  the  native  he  should  have  equal  privileges 
with  the  white  man,  and  if  the  white  man 
is  allowed  to  buy  liquor  the  native  should  not 


150          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

be  denied.  There  has  been  a  sort  of  com- 
promise relating  to  the  large  white  town,  pro- 
hibiting the  sale  of  distilled  liquors,  or  any 
containing  over  fifteen  per  cent  of  alcohol  to 
the  natives,  but  as  nearly  every  Kaffir  store 
is  allowed  to  sell  the  milder  liquors,  the  law 
is  practically  nullified  thereby.  The  "black 
peril"  of  Africa  is  in  almost  every  instance 
traced  to  drunkenness  from  imbibing  Euro- 
pean liquors.  It  is  the  same  thing  that  causes 
the  "white  peril"  in  England  or  America. 

On  Thursday  noon  we  were  much  surprised 
to  see  a  white  man  enter  the  compound  and  to 
find  that  it  was  Mr.  Vanderveld.  He  said 
that  he  had  been  too  ill  to  go  on  and  complete 
the  journey  he  had  planned  and  so  was  return- 
ing to  his  station.  He  had  a  very  yellow  color, 
refused  to  eat,  and  smoked  cigarettes  inces- 
santly. He  said  that  he  proposed  to  settle  up 
his  affairs  and  return  to  Belgium. 

In  the  course  of  the  conversation  he  said 
that  Mwata  Yamvo  had  wished  to  buy  his 
pousse-pousse,  or  mono-cycle,  and  that  he  or 
anyone  else  could  have  it  for  three  hundred 
francs,  or  sixty  dollars,  just  what  it  had  cost 
him  in  Brussels.  He  had  had  it  only  a  year 
and  had  not  used  it  much  at  that. 

Now  it  happened  that  Mrs.  Springer  and  I 


AT  MUSUMBA  151 

had  discussed  the  buying  of  such  a  mono-cycle 
for  her  use  for  some  weeks  before  leaving 
Lukoshi.  We  had  received  a  price  list  which 
showed  us  that  we  could  get  one  in  England 
or  America  for  fifty  dollars.  We  had  talked 
much  about  it  and  then  had  decided  that  by 
the  time  it  was  shipped  out  it  would  cost  us 
fully  three  times  that  amount,  and  we  could 
not  think  of  it. 

When  we  had  left  Lukoshi  for  this  trip,  we 
had  left  Jim  behind  to  wait  for  the  mail.  He 
had  joined  us  after  four  days  and  among  other 
letters  was  one  telling  us  that  Mrs.  Fox's 
Sunday  school  class  at  Wessington  Springs, 
S.  D.  (the  church  from  which  our  personal 
support  came,  principally  from  three  of  its 
members),  had  sent  us  a  Christmas  present  of 
fifty  dollars  and  had  sent  it  early,  in  order  that 
it  might  be  in  time.  As  this  was  the  middle 
of  May,  we  decided  that  it  was  in  time  all 
right. 

Again  the  subject  of  the  mono-cycle  came 
up,  but  we  could  see  no  light.  When  we  had 
seen  Mr.  Vanderveld's  at  Pesha  our  hopes  had 
been  roused  for  a  moment.  I  had  asked  him 
casually  how  much  they  cost  and  if  he  had  any 
idea  of  selling,  and  he  had  replied  promptly 
that  he  had  not.  He  told  me  then  that  they 


152          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

cost  sixty  dollars  in  France  where  they  were 
made. 

Now  he  had  said  that  he  would  sell  it  to 
anyone  who  would  buy.  After  he  went  over 
to  his  tent  we  talked  it  over  and  it  seemed  to 
us  as  we  recalled  the  Christmas  gift  and  the 
cash  almost  thrust  upon  me  by  Mr.  Young 
and  then  this  direct  offer  of  the  very  sort  of 
conveyance  we  desired  as  if  it  all  were  a  direct 
providence  from  the  Lord  and  no  mistake. 

But  I  wanted  to  be  sure  that  I  would  not  be 
forestalling  the  Chief,  and  I  so  remarked  to 
Mr.  Vanderveld.  He  replied  that  I  need  not 
trouble  myself  on  that  score,  as  Mr.  Till  also 
had  a  mono-cycle  that  he  would  sell  to  the 
Chief  if  he  wanted  it.  That  question  being 
settled,  I  paid  down  the  three  hundred  francs 
cash,  and  let  Mr.  Vanderveld  use  the  mono- 
cycle  to  his  station,  six  miles  away.  As  we 
had  to  pass  right  through  his  station  we  could 
pick  it  up  there. 

For  several  days  we  had  been  taking  walks 
in  all  directions  to  see  if  there  were  good  sites 
for  a  mission  station.  The  veldt  had  been 
newly  burned  and  we  deeply  regretted  that 
our  only  chance  for  a  bath  on  our  return  from 
these  explorations  was  in  a  small  hand  basin. 

At  last  we  decided  on  a  certain  site  which 


AT  MUSUMBA  153 

seemed  to  us  the  very  best  in  that  vicinity.  We 
conferred  with  the  Chief  and  his  head  men 
and  they  agreed  that  the  site  was  a  very  good 
one  and  perfectly  satisfactory  to  them. 

So  the  last  day  of  our  stay  there  I  took  Jacob 
and  some  of  the  other  boys  out  to  the  spot 
we  had  chosen  and  I  cut  a  cross  on  the  only 
large  tree  in  that  vicinity.  I  knew  that  very 
likely  I  would  not  be  able  to  come  up  there 
when  the  station  was  built  and  I  wanted  Jacob 
and  some  of  the  others  to  know  the  site  decided 
on  with  the  Chief  for  the  Mission.  We  got 
back  just  in  time  to  witness  one  of  the  most 
interesting  ceremonies  we  have  ever  seen  in 
Africa. 

Hearing  the  call  of  the  big  drum  and  the 
sound  of  many  voices,  we  hurried  into  the 
large  court  adjoining  the  one  in  which  we  were 
staying  and  found  the  King  beginning  the 
ceremony  of  installing  a  sub-chief. 

The  King,  who  is  rather  a  fussy  individual, 
small  of  stature,  and  of  nervous  temperament, 
was  master  of  ceremonies.  He  was  seated  in 
front  of  the  large,  double,  national  altar,  pro- 
totype of  the  altars  found  in  practically  every 
village.  These  are  made  of  many-pronged  dead 
trees  with  live  posts  in  front.  Red  and  white 
clays  are  used  in  making  fantastic  decorations. 


154          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

A  table,  or  shelf,  of  poles  receives  votive  offer- 
ings. This  altar  is  used  chiefly  for  the  pro- 
pitiation of  evil  spirits. 

The  throne  consisted  of  a  large  European 
arm-chair  over  which  was  thrown  a  purple 
blanket  with  black  leopard  spots,  my  gift  to 
Mwata  Yamvo.  In  olden  days  all  the  lion  and 
leopard  skins  of  the  country  belonged  to  the 
King,  and  only  he  and  his  immediate  family 
could  use  them.  Under  his  feet  the  King  had 
a  large  lion  skin,  and,  as  a  robe  of  state,  he 
wore  a  beautiful  blue  and  white  blanket 
draped  about  him  like  a  Koman  toga.  In 
addition  to  his  every-day,  elaborate  head-dress 
of  bead  work,  he  now  had  on  an  immense  pom- 
pom of  scarlet  feathers.  Other  members  of 
the  royal  family  were  seated  on  leopard  skins, 
each  with  a  group  of  followers  about.  Fully 
twenty  fine  leopard  skins  were  in  evidence. 

At  one  side,  between  the  King  and  the  altar, 
was  the  court  musician  with  a  large,  fine-toned 
native  piano,  and  by  his  side  another  musician 
with  a  big  wooden  drum.  Each  of  these  instru- 
ments was  played  with  two  sticks  on  the  ends 
of  which  were  balls  of  native  rubber.  The 
players  were  men  of  skill,  always  interpreting 
the  everchanging  mood  of  the  crowd  of  five 
hundred  or  more,  from  the  low,  rhythmic  hand- 


AT  MUSUMBA  155 

clapping  to  violent  outbursts  of  native  emo- 
tion and  impulse.  There  was  constant  and 
informal  coming  and  going  throughout.  No 
hard  and  fast  program  hampered  the  free  play 
of  impulse  and  the  inspiration  of  the  moment. 

The  exercises  had  begun  with  the  entrance 
of  the  King,  followed  by  the  orchestra,  the  deep 
bass  of  the  drum  beating  a  slow  and  dignified 
march.  The  entire  assembly  arose,  picked  up 
dust  and  rubbed  on  their  stomachs,  and  then 
clapping  their  hands,  chanted  softly  the 
praises  of  the  King,  who  proceeded  to  his 
throne,  all  the  others  remaining  standing  until 
he  was  seated.  None  of  his  subjects  or  family 
occupied  a  chair,  for  among  the  Alunda  no 
commoner  is  allowed  to  sit  on  a  chair  in  the 
presence  of  an  important  chief. 

The  first  business  was  to  determine,  if  possi- 
ble, who  was  responsible  for  the  death  of  the 
sub-chief  whose  place  was  about  to  be  filled. 
Since  the  Alunda  are  firm  believers  in  witch- 
craft, the  reason  for  showing  a  clean  slate,  as 
it  were,  is  obvious.  The  King  called  on  first 
one  chief  and  then  another,  and  then  on  many 
commoners,  and  each  one  repeated  at  length 
about  the  same  thing,  namely,  that  So-and-so 
was  dead  and  that  so  far  as  they  knew  no  one 
there  was  responsible  for  his  death.  As  each 


156          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

chief  finished,  half  chanting,  dramatically,  his 
version  of  the  case,  he  brought  it  to  a  climax 
by  rubbing  white  clay  on  one  of  his  shoulders. 
These  recitals  were  interspersed  by  tableaux 
acted  by  a  grizzly  chief  clothed  with  several 
wild  cat  and  hyena  skins,  who,  on  entering, 
had  advanced  from  the  gateway  with  big 
jumps  and  yells,  beating  the  ground  in  front 
of  him  in  stately  fashion  with  an  immense 
club.  The  big  stick,  as  a  ceremony  of  state, 
did  not,  therefore,  originate  in  the  United 
States.  We  judged  that  this  actor  was  driv- 
ing all  the  devils  out  of  the  path  of  the  man 
who  was  advancing  for  his  inauguration. 

Having  at  last  pronounced  the  verdict  that 
all  present  were  guiltless  of  the  chief's  death, 
every  person  present  daubed  the  white  clay 
about  the  eyes,  nose,  and  mouth  and  all  over 
their  bodies  until  the  assembly  resembled  a 
mob  of  ghouls.  White  clay  is  the  native  symbol 
for  "not  guilty." 

Then  the  King  asked  for  nominations,  de- 
spite the  fact  that  he  alone  could  nominate  the 
man,  and  as  no  one  responded,  he  named  the 
man  of  his  choice.  From  the  moment  the 
white  clay  had  been  given  out,  shouts  from 
hundreds  of  voices,  a  rapid  succession  of  gun 
firing  and  the  beating  of  drums  on  the  outside 


AT  MUSUMBA  157 

of  the  wall  could  be  heard,  so  that  everyone 
knew  that  the  triumphal  procession  was  draw- 
ing near.  And  now  the  crowd  near  the 
entrance  parted  and  a  stately  file  of  armed 
men  marched  in  with  quick,  warlike  tread, 
passed  in  front  of  the  King,  whom  they 
saluted,  marched  once  around  the  big  altar, 
and  then  stood  at  arms  to  one  side.  Following 
these  was  the  candidate  whom  the  King  had 
named  and  who  was  now  ushered  before  the 
King  by  the  Man-with-the-Big-Stick  with 
enough  flourishing  of  his  badge  of  office,  ges- 
ticulations, and  yells  to  have  satisfied  the  most 
enthusiastic  American. 

The  candidate  approached  to  within  a  few 
paces  of  the  King,  where  he  dropped  on  his 
knees,  clapped  his  hands  in  obeisance,  picked 
up  dust  and  rubbed  it  over  his  bared  stomach, 
and  then,  having  received  from  the  King  the 
command  to  approach,  he  half  arose,  then  pros- 
trated himself  full  length  on  the  ground,  touch- 
ing his  temples  to  the  earth.  He  prostrated 
himself  first  on  one  side  of  his  body  and  then 
on  the  other  several  times  until,  with  this 
abject  homage,  he  reached  the  royal  person. 
Here,  still  kneeling,  he  received  the  badge  of 
office,  a  large,  two-edged  sword,  some  twenty 
inches  long,  inclosed  in  a  carved  wooden  scab- 


158          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

bard  with  a  belt  of  beaver  fur.  Slinging  this 
over  his  shoulder,  he  saluted  the  King  by 
touching  his  hand.  He  then  heard  the  long 
admonition  delivered  by  Mwata  Yamvo, 
chanted  his  assent,  and  retired  to  a  place  near 
his  men  in  front  of  the  King.  The  orchestra 
roared,  the  vast  audience  howled,  the  women 
shrieked  in  high  pitched  trills:  the  noise  was 
almost  deafening. 

The  King  gave  one  of  his  men  an  order  and 
he  and  the  new  chief  disappeared  inside  the 
hut  at  the  rear  of  the  altar.  A  few  seconds 
later,  they  reappeared,  the  new  chief  being 
draped  in  an  immense  loin  cloth  sixteen  yards 
long  and  fifty  inches  wide. 

The  King  then  made  a  long  speech  and  in 
closing,  spoke  more  truly,  perhaps,  than  he 
knew  when  he  said,  "We  have  been  told  by 
the  Missionary  that  we  should  live  like  men  in 
peace,  not  like  animals,  fighting  and  killing 
each  other.  That  is  true.  This  is  a  new  and 
good  day  for  us.  God  has  sent  his  man  [point- 
ing to  the  writer]  to  teach  us  his  words  which 
we  will  do  well  to  hear  and  to  heed." 

Then  began,  evidently,  the  most  enjoyable 
part  on  the  program.  First  the  new  sub-chief 
and  then  many  others  stepped  into  the  open 
space  before  the  King,  took  the  unsheathed 


AT  MUSUMBA  159 

sword  and  performed  a  fancy  sword  dance, 
graceful  but  wild  and  barbaric.  Each  per- 
formance received  great  applause,  but  when 
Mwata  Yamvo's  twelve-year-old  son,  the  heir 
apparent,  took  his  turn,  the  wildest  enthu- 
siasm prevailed. 

It  was  now  deep  twilight  and  the  King  sud- 
denly arose  out  of  his  place  and  strode  off 
toward  his  own  house.  The  crowd  also  arose 
like  one  man,  hundreds  of  them  closing  around 
the  new  chief,  who  was  seized  by  his  own  men 
and  carried  off  triumphantly  on  their  shoul- 
ders to  their  village  where  the  inaugural  ball 
was  kept  up  all  night. 

It  all  occurred  too  late  in  the  day  to  take 
photographs,  but  we  can  see  it  still,  that  im- 
mense company  with  their  fantastic  garbings 
and  groupings,  the  King  on  his  throne  with 
his  mother  sitting  on  one  side  of  him  on  a 
leopard  skin,  and  his  sister  on  the  other  side 
also  on  a  leopard  skin,  and  the  wives,  of  whom 
they  said  there  were  at  least  two  hundred,  and 
his  head-chiefs  scattered  about,  all  of  them 
before  the  great  altar  erected  to  the  unknown 
gods  for  whom  they  had  only  dread  and  fear — 
then  the  sudden  darkening  of  a  tropical  night 
falling  like  a  curtain  over  all.  It  was  a  repre- 
sentative picture  of  heathenism  as  it  really  is. 


CHAPTER  XII 
LEAVING  MWATA  YAMVO 

THE  importance  of  this  capital  town,  from  a 
missionary  point  of  view,  had  so  grown  upon 
us  in  these  ten  days  that  we  greatly  regretted 
leaving  Mwata  Yamvo.  Had  there  been  any 
possible  way  for  us  to  stay  we  certainly  would 
have  done  so.  No  other  missionary  situation 
had  ever  so  appealed  to  us,  and  in  comparison 
Kazembe's  district  on  the  Lukoshi  was  not  to 
be  considered  for  a  moment  for  strategic  im- 
portance. Mrs.  Springer  longed  to  stay  and 
work  among  the  bright,  and  many  of  them 
beautiful,  young  women  who  were  there  as 
Mwata  Yamvo's  wives.  No  one  knew  exactly 
how  many  wives  he  did  have,  but  it  was 
rumored  that  there  were  at  least  two  hundred. 

These  were  divided  roughly  into  different 
classes  and  quartered  accordingly  in  different 
courts.  The  favorites  were  in  the  court  in 
which  we  were  camped.  They  were  mostly 
the  young  and  the  best  favored.  Then  those 
whose  first  bloom  had  faded  were  in  the  next 
court.  Then  in  the  outer  court  were  the  hope- 

160 


LEAVING  MWATA  YAMVO  161 

less-faced  women,  the  discarded  wives.  We 
were  not  there  long  enough  to  learn  all  the 
particulars  of  harem  life,  but  we  learned 
enough  to  know  that  the  conditions  were 
horrible  beyond  description. 

I  repeat,  leaving  that  town  was  one  of  the 
hardest  things  we  ever  did.  We  lay  awake 
nights  trying  to  study  up  some  way  by  which 
we  might  stay.  We  would  gladly  have  sent 
our  boys  back  to  Mr.  Heinkel  telling  him  that 
he  must  come  on  up  there  with  the  things,  as 
we  were  not  coming  back.  But  it  was  utterly 
impossible.  At  that  time  Kapanga  was  prac- 
tically marooned  except  for  the  Kassai  Co., 
and  they  were  unable  to  get  loads  just  then  on 
account  of  an  outbreak  of  war  with  the  Bateke 
on  the  north.  We  found,  as  we  said,  the  Gov- 
ernment officials  living  largely  on  native  food 
and  dependent  on  the  graces  of  the  Forminiere 
for  a  small  amount  of  trading  goods,  and  this 
too  would  be  cut  off  with  the  early  removal 
of  the  depot. 

So  study  the  situation  from  any  point  of 
the  compass,  we  could  not  stay.  And  it  was 
evident  that  if  our  Mission  were  to  occupy  that 
center  in  the  future,  we  must  have  some  trans- 
port route  opened  from  the  Cape-to-Cairo  Bail- 
road. 


162          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

True  to  his  promise  of  Saturday,  the  Chief 
brought  us  twelve  carriers  on  Monday  morn- 
ing. They  were  the  worst  looking  crowd  that 
we  had  ever  seen,  weak  and  underfed — prob- 
ably a  lot  just  received  from  some  remote, 
famine-stricken  district.  But  we  had  to  take 
them,  hoping  for  the  best. 

Mwata  Yamvo  bade  us  a  cordial  farewell, 
urging  us  to  come  again  and  calling  after 
Jacob  that  he  must  be  sure  and  bring  his  mis- 
sionary back.  Mbanzi  went  a  mile  with  us  and 
turned  back  just  beyond  the  second  spruit.  A 
genuine  friendship  had  sprung  up  between  him 
and  Jacob.  He  was  an  able  youth  and  we 
could  not  but  think  that  Jesus  would  have  felt 
toward  him  as  he  did  toward  the  rich  young 
ruler.  His  position  of  trust  to  Mwata  Yamvo 
was  one  full  of  pitfalls  and  snares  into  which 
he  fell  a  year  later. 

I  had  pushed  on  with  my  bicycle  to  the  store 
and  took  over  the  mono-cycle.  As  it  came  out 
Peter's  eyes  opened  wide. 

"Is  that  for  the  Missis?"  he  asked. 

"Yes,"  I  replied,  "I  have  bought  it  for  the 
Missis." 

"I  know  how  to  run  it,"  he  said  proudly.  It 
was  my  turn  to  be  astonished. 

"Where  did  you  learn?"  I  asked. 


LEAVING  MWATA  YAMVO  163 

"O,  I  used  to  run  Mr.  Kipp's  for  Mm  in 
Angola.  But  Mr.  Kipp's  was  a  pickinin  and 
this  is  big.  I  go  to  get  the  Missis." 

And  off  he  started  and  met  her  a  mile  away 
walking  rather  wearily.  She  had  six  carriers 
on  her  machilla  and  the  whole  six  had  not  been 
able  to  carry  her  two  miles.  They  had  actually 
laid  her  down  in  the  path,  refusing  to  lift  the 
machilla  pole  until  she  got  out.  When  one 
considers  that  two  good  machilla  carriers 
could  have  brought  her  every  step  of  the  six 
miles,  it  is  easy  to  see  what  worthless  carriers 
we  had. 

At  the  Kassai  Company  store  I  rationed 
these  men  with  salt  for  Katola,  five  days  away. 
They  would  buy  their  food  in  the  villages  with 
the  salt.  This  was  the  custom  in  dealing  with 
carriers. 

Mr.  Vanderveld  said  that  he  was  no  better 
and  that  he  was  still  unable  to  eat,  but  he  was 
up  and  at  his  work.  Two  weeks  later  he  was 
buried  there  at  his  station.  When  we  heard 
of  it,  we  wrote  to  Mr.  Lefevre  and  tried  to  get 
the  child,  but  found  that  she  had  already  been 
sent  to  some  mission  to  the  north,  possibly  the 
Catholic. 

While  talking  with  Mr.  Vanderveld,  a  man 
came  with  bananas  to  sell.  This  was  a  rare 


164          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

treat  to  us,  and  as  he  did  not  care  to  buy  I 
invested  in  the  bunch  of  about  two  dozen. 
They  would  be  most  acceptable  on  the  trail. 

We  camped  that  night  about  fifteen  miles 
from  Musumba  and  three  miles  beyond  the 
Forminiere  camp  from  which  Mr.  Young  had 
already  departed,  leaving  in  charge  a  well-edu- 
cated half-caste  from  French  Guinea;  a  Mr. 
Topp,  who  spoke  both  English  and  French 
fluently. 

The  last  four  miles  of  the  trail  were  very 
bad  and  I  had  to  walk  nearly  all  the  way,  so 
I  was  dismayed  when  we  came  into  camp  and 
two  men  failed  to  report,  one  of  them  being 
the  man  with  the  bananas.  I  could  not  wheel 
back  after  them  on  account  of  the  poor  trail 
and  the  lateness  of  the  hour. 

The  next  morning  I  found  that  all  but  two 
of  the  others  had  slipped  out  in  the  night  and 
had  gone,  taking  their  salt  with  them. 

The  situation  was  serious.  This  little  village 
where  we  had  stopped  had  been  utterly 
stripped  of  men  to  furnish  carriers,  and  there 
was  nothing  to  do  but  to  return  to  Mwata 
Yamvo  and  get  other  men. 

Leaving  Mrs.  Springer  and  our  boys  in  the 
village,  I  cycled  back  alone  and  reached 
Mwata  Yamvo  about  eleven  o'clock.  He  and 


LEAVING  MWATA  YAMVO  165 

his  head  men  were  sitting  on  a  case  and  when 
I  reported  the  desertion  of  his  men  they  spat 
on  the  ground  with  disgust.  But  it  was  evi- 
dent that  they  were  not  wholly  surprised. 

The  Chief  assured  me  that  I  could  return 
and  when  his  workmen  reported  at  noon,  he 
would  have  twelve  of  them  follow  me.  I  pre- 
ferred the  "bird  in  the  hand"  and  so  told  him 
that  I  was  tired,  and  would  wait  and  take  the 
men  with  me. 

He  called  Mbanzi  and  told  him  to  get  me 
something  to  eat.  Mbanzi  ordered  one  of  the 
Chiefs  wives  to  cook  me  some  food  and  in  due 
time  I  was  served  a  good  meal  of  roast  chicken, 
baked  sweet  potatoes,  and  tea  with  tinned  milk 
and  sugar.  I  tipped  her  with  some  beads  and 
a  half  a  franc,  much  to  her  satisfaction.  She 
was  one  of  the  wives  that  had  most  attracted 
Mrs.  Springer. 

At  4  P.  M.  Mwata  Yamvo  brought  the  twelve 
men  and  told  them  that  they  were  to  go  to 
Katola  with  us  and  that  they  were  to  see  to  it 
that  Katola  gave  us  an  equal  number  of  men 
to  go  on.  But  if  he  did  not  have  them,  they 
must  go  to  Dilolo  with  us  themselves.  He 
gave  each  man  an  anklet  so  that  each  man 
was  individually  responsible  and  individually 
empowered  to  find  a  substitute  for  himself,  a 


166          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

clever  ruse.  I  slept  at  Kapanga's  village  that 
night  and  reached  Mrs.  Springer  early  the 
next  morning. 

She  told  me  that  the  previous  forenoon,  she 
had  heard  a  great  outcry  and  found  that  one 
of  the  two  men  who  had  not  deserted  in  the 
night  had  tried  to  run  away,  but  had  been 
caught  by  the  women  of  the  village  and 
brought  back.  The  women  were  furious  with 
him  and  two  of  them  seized  sticks  and  beat 
the  fellow  until  he  begged  most  abjectly  for 
mercy. 

"We  will  teach  you  a  lesson,"  they  cried 
savagely,  as  they  belabored  him.  "We  will 
teach  you  better  than  to  desert  in  a  village  full 
of  women  only.  Do  you  wrant  us  to  have  to 
carry  your  load  on  for  you?"  There  were  no 
names  too  bad  to  apply  to  him  as  they  danced 
around  him  in  perfect  fury.  One  woman 
kicked  him  and  another  pounded  him  with  her 
fists.  They  certainly  beat  him  into  subjection 
and  probably  would  have  seriously  injured 
him  had  not  Mrs.  Springer  interfered.  He  did 
not  dare  attempt  to  escape  again  from  that 
village,  though  he  did  desert  three  days  far- 
ther on. 

We  paralleled  the  river  and  the  next  day 
crossed  eighteen  streams  in  nineteen  miles,  a 


LEAVING  MWATA  YAMVO  167 

record  breaker.  All  along  we  were  charmed 
with  the  promise  of  the  country  for  European 
style  of  farming.  We  picked  out  the  home- 
stead sites  in  our  mind's  eye  as  we  went  along. 
Here  were  beautiful,  red  clay  ridges  about 
four  hundred  feet  above  the  Lulua  and  high 
above  these  cross  streams.  Some  day,  and 
before  many  years,  we  feel  that  this  stretch 
of  country  will  be  dotted  with  brick  farm 
houses  overlooking  wide  stretches  along  the 
Lulua  valley. 

At  one  of  these  streams,  the  Mwinakadi,  we 
had  a  terrible  time.  A  fire  had  swept  through 
the  low  land  on  the  north  side  of  the  stream 
where  the*  rushes  had  grown  twelve  or  fifteen 
feet  high.  The  fire  had  not  consumed  the 
reeds,  but  had  matted  them  down  so  that  in 
one  place  we  had  to  creep  on  our  hands  and 
knees  for  some  yards  to  get  through.  A  large 
grove  of  bananas  had  been  planted  here,  but 
being  unprotected  had  now  been  killed  out  by 
the  grass  fire. 

Just  north  of  Katola,  we  met  Lieutenant 
Hedo  and  his  bicycle  corps  of  native  soldiers. 
He  was  the  first  government  official  to  go  from 
Elisabethville  to  Kapanga,  which  with  the 
surrounding  district  had  but  recently  been 
transferred  to  the  Katanga  province  of  the 


168          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

Congo.  This  was  the  beginning  of  the  admin- 
istration of  this,  now  the  Lulua  District,  from 
Elisabethville.  Lieutenant  Hedo's  was  one  of 
three  separate  parties  of  bicycle  corps  at  that 
time  exploring  the  whole  Katanga. 

There  were  twenty-five  of  these  native 
soldiers  with  Lieutenant  Hedo,  each  having  a 
bicycle  heavily  loaded  with  kit,  gun,  and  am- 
munition, and  nearly  every  one  decorated  with 
one  or  more  fowls  gathered  from  the  native 
villages.  In  the  rear  we  met  three  or  four  of 
the  soldiers  carrying  their  smashed  wheels  on 
their  heads.  A  bicycle  is  fine  so  long  as  it 
cycles,  but  when  it  does  not  it  is  a  different 
story. 

On  Saturday  we  reached  Chibamba's  village, 
a  mile  from  the  Kassai  Co.'s  Katola  store. 
Our  carriers  showed  their  bracelets  to  Chi- 
bamba  and  demanded  carriers  to  take  their 
places. 

"I  want  fourteen  men  to-morrow  to  carry 
my  loads  to  Dilolo,"  said  I. 

"My  men  are  all  gone  now,"  said  the  chief. 
"Fifty  are  with  Lefevre,  three  have  gone  to 
this  place,  five  to  another,  eight  to  that  place, 
and  they  are  all  scattered." 

It  was  true,  as  we  learned  later,  that  most 
of  his  men  were  gone.  But  here  was  one  more 


LEAVING  MWATA  YAMVO  169 

white  man,  and  this  one  had  his  wife,  and  in 
some  way  he  must  take  care  of  their  loads  and 
get  them  along  to  the  next  stage. 

That  evening  as  we  sat  around  the  campfire 
in  the  village,  I  stirred  the  chief  up  to  a  remi- 
niscent mood  purposely  in  order  to  get  some 
additional  light  on  Lunda  history.  I  had  been 
told  that  he  was  a  son  of  a  former  king.  Had 
he  known  other  Mwata  Yamvos  in  the  past? 
The  fire  lit  up  his  eyes  beneath  his  grisly  eye- 
brows. Had  he?  And  he  named  them  over, 
the  ones  that  he  had  personally  known,  eight 
in  all,  and  in  addition  gave  me  the  names  of 
eight  more  before  his  time,  his  father,  he  said, 
having  been  the  fifth  in  the  line.  Some  of 
them  had  reigned  but  a  short  time,  others  for 
a  number  of  years,  but  in  nearly  every  case 
the  end  had  been  a  tragic  one.  He  seemed  to 
think  that  as  long  as  these  assassinations  were 
confined  to  their  own  tribe  they  were  insignifi- 
cant. 

"Were  there  more  Alunda  or  fewer  when 
you  were  a  young  man  than  now?" 

"Ah,"  said  he  with  a  wistful  look  and  ardent 
tone,  "those  were  the  good  old  days,  indeed. 
Then  there  were  villages  everywhere,  gardens 
were  plenty,  we  had  much  food  of  all  kinds, 
herds  of  sheep,  goats,  and  cattle,  and  plenty 


170          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

of  slaves  and  wives.  Ah!  Those  were  the 
times  in  which  to  live!  But  now — "  and  he 
spat  on  the  ground  in  disgust. 

"What  has  become  of  all  the  people?"  I 
asked.  One  of  his  ten  wives  spoke  up  quickly 
and  said  tersely,  "The  Bachokwe." 

.Then  followed  an  account  of  raid  aTter  raid 
by  this  tribe,  who  obtained  firearms  from  the 
Portuguese  near  the  coast  and  thus  had  the 
advantage  over  their  more  primitively  armed 
neighbors. 

"But  did  not  the  Bachokwe  originally  be- 
long to  the  Alunda?" 

"Yes,  they  were  of  our  own  kin,  but  one  of 
the  chiefs  having  a  falling  out  with  Mwata 
Yamvo,  stirred  up  a  rebellion  and  fled  to  the 
other  side  of  the  Kassai  Kiver  with  his  follow- 
ing. There  they  gathered  others  to  their  band 
and  grew  strong  and  years  later  came  back 
and  raided  us,  seized  our  sons  and  daughters 
and  sold  them  for  slaves." 

"To-day  you  sell  much  rubber  to  the  white 
man ;  did  you  gather  and  sell  rubber  when  you 
were  a  boy?" 

"No.  We  sold  goats,  sheep,  fowls  and  cattle 
to  the  Portuguese  trader  and  particularly 
slaves.  One  slave  for  a  yard  of  calico,  five 
slaves  for  a  gun,  although  there  have  been 


LEAVING  MWATA  YAMVO  171 

times  when  we  have  paid  as  high  as  forty 
slaves  for  one  gun." 

"And  where  did  you  get  all  your  slaves?" 

"Why,  to  the  east,  the  further  interior.  Of 
course  when  there  was  a  law  case  against  a 
man,  or  there  was  found  any  stranger  unat- 
tended or  friendless,  when  there  was  a  witch 
trial  or  any  such  things  we  had  a  chance  to 
get  slaves  here  in  our  own  land.  Mwaninga 
(yes)  those  were  good  old  days!  But  now" — 
with  a  helpless  gesture — "we  can  do  nothing." 

And  so  we  had  in  epitome  the  history  of  tribe 
after  tribe.  The  Lunda  people  became  power- 
ful through  the  first  Mwata  Yamvo.  He  was 
a  Luba,  a  strong  man  who  revolted  against 
his  own  chief  and  went  among  the  few  and 
feeble  Alunda  and  these  he  gathered  around 
him  and  by  means  of  wars  made  them  into  a 
powerful  nation  and  made  for  himself  an  em- 
pire. His  warriors  extended  his  borders  while 
the  women  made  gardens  and  reared  the  chil- 
dren. Slaves  were  the  medium  of  exchange. 
His  name  meant  "the  lord  of  death,"  signify- 
ing his  method  of  ruling. 

An  extended  empire  resulted  and  his  sons 
were  set  over  the  provinces  to  gather  the 
tribute  and  send  it  in  to  him  year  by  year. 
The  chiefs  gave  themselves  more  and  more  to 


172          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

luxury,  drink,  and  women  as  the  temporal 
power  increased,  and  the  inevitable  came  to 
pass  at  last  when  a  fool  had  the  chieftain- 
ship; the  enemies  crossed  the  frontiers  with 
impunity,  and  the  seceded  Bachokwe  dealt 
deadly  blows  as  they  returned  and  swept  right 
through  the  empire  from  north  to  south,  cut- 
ting it  in  two.  Thus  the  Bachokwe  dealt 
and  the  Alunda  decreased  in  powder  until  the 
arrival  of  the  Belgians  under  the  Kassai  Co., 
when  a  strong  check  was  put  on  the  Bachokwe 
and  help  given  to  the  Alunda. 

It  is  needless  to  say  that  the  Bachokwe  have 
little  love  for  any  white  man,  and  bitterly 
resent  the  imposition  of  taxes  laid  upon  them. 

But  to  return  to  the  subject  in  hand,  the 
necessity  of  our  having  carriers. 

Chibamba  said  that  while  he  acknowledged 
his  obligation  to  furnish  carriers  if  he  had 
them,  he  had  already  given  Mr.  Lefevre  fifty 
carriers  and  that  there  were  no  more  men 
left  in  his  town.  The  carriers  did  not  accept 
his  word  as  final,  and  they  swore  that  they 
would  not  go  another  step,  and  that  if  he  did 
not  obey  the  Chief's  command  his  blood  would 
be  upon  his  own  head.  The  discussion  waxed 
warm  between  them. 

On  Sunday  Jacob  reported  that  the  carriers 


LEAVING  MWATA  YAMVO  173 

had  taken  advantage  of  my  short  absence  from 
the  village  and  had  left  for  Mwata  Yamvo's. 
I  jumped  on  my  wheel  and  caught  up  with 
them  after  two  or  three  miles  and  made  them 
come  back.  I  told  them  they  knew  Mwata 
Yarnvo's  instructions,  and  that  I  did  not  pro- 
pose to  be  left  a  second  time  without  carriers. 
They  agreed  to  go  on  with  me. 

At  daybreak  the  next  morning  I  was  awak- 
ened by  Jacob,  who  excitedly  informed  me  that 
all  my  carriers  had  gone.  I  bolted  down  the 
path,  but  although  I  rode  at  breakneck  speed 
for  about  four  miles,  there  was  no  trace  of 
them  and  I  had  to  return.  They  evidently 
knew  that  the  chief,  Chibamba,  could  furnish 
the  carriers  and  determined  to  force  him  to 
do  it. 

,The  chief  still  protested  that  he  had  no  men, 
but  the  agent  of  the  Kassai  Co.,  who  knew 
the  local  situation  well,  came  down  and  con- 
vinced the  chief  that  he  not  only  could  but 
must  give  us  carriers.  He  really  exerted  him- 
self now  to  get  us  men  for  the  next  day,  but 
when  the  morning  came  I  had  to  go  around 
the  village  with  one  of  his  young  men  and 
actually  haul  them  out,  some  from  under  the 
beds  and  other  places  of  hiding.  They  came 
laughing  at  having  been  caught,  and  so  at  last 


174          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

we  were  able  to  move  on,  CMbamba  going  with 
us  until  noon.  From  here  to  Lukoshi  carriers 
were  a  daily  and  hourly  problem,  and  truly  it 
was  a  case  of  working  our  passage. 

NOTE 

"The  Lunda  people  seem  to  have  had  some  community 
of  origin  with  the  Lua  or  Luba,  whose  range  extends 
between  Lake  Tanganyika  and  the  Kassai,  south  of  the 
sixth  parallel,  S.  Lat.  This  Luba-Lunda  group  of  Bantu 
peoples  must  have  reached  their  first  home  on  the  south- 
west coast  of  Tanganyika  (Lukuga-Marungu)  from  the 
north  by  traveling  along  the  western  side  of  the  lake. 
Then  they  extended  in  time  across  the  Congo  basin  south 
of  the  dense  forest  region. 

"Their  rise  into  prominence  may  have  been  contem- 
poraneous with  the  English  Renaissance — say  between 
the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries — a  period  during 
which  there  were  notable  Bantu  migrations  and  found- 
ings of  states  in  (Central  and)  South  Africa.  First  the 
Bakuba,  and  later  the  Alunda  arose  as  conquering  and 
ruling  castes  through  skill  in  weapon-making,  hunting, 
and  warfare.  An  individual  here  and  there  probably  of 
Hima  (Gala)  descent,  would  emerge  from  the  crowd  and, 
by  dint  of  courage,  resource,  inventiveness,  or  the  obtain- 
ing of  better  weapons,  become  a  mighty  hunter  and  thus 
supply  his  people  with  food  and  adornments.  Round 
him  a  community  would  group  itself,  attracting  other 
communities  till  a  kingdom  or  empire  was  founded.  It 
was  thus  the  kingdoms  of  Uganda  and  Unyoro,  of  Kongo 
and  the  Luba,  Lunda  and  Kioko  and  other  Bantu  coun- 
tries came  into  existence.  No  doubt  this  commencement 
of  Bantu  state-building  was  a  far-off  echo  of  the  Arab 
invasions  of  North  Central  Africa  and  even  of  the 


LEAVING  MWATA  YAMVO  175 

European  Renaissance.  These  movements,  with  their  in- 
troduction of  a  higher  civilization  and  superior  weapons, 
affected  the  Hamites  and  Nilotic  negroes,  who,  in  turn, 
reacted  on  the  Bantu  of  the  lake  regions.  According 
to  the  researches  of  Torday,  Carvalho  and  others,  a  Luba 
prince  seems  to  have  infused  the  divine  fire  into  the 
Lunda  or  Bungo  people  (the  word,  Lunda,  it  may  be 
remarked,  means  "brother,  friend,  comrade"  in  the 
southern  Luba  dialects).  A  Lunda  adventurer  settled 
about  three  hundred  years  ago  on  the  Kangombe  plateau 
in  S.  E.  Angola,  and  from  out  of  the  Makosa  tribe  formed 
the  celebrated  raiding  tribe,  Kioko  or  Chibokwe. 

"The  Mwata  Yamvo,  who,  until  the  foundation  of  the 
Congo  Free  State  and  the  division  of  spheres  of  in- 
fluence between  it  and  Portugal  was  practically  suzerain 
over  all  the  Lunda  and  many  of  the  Luba  peoples,  is  the 
fourteenth  in  descent  from  the  traditional  founder  of 
this  dynasty  in  the  seventeenth  century.  At  one  time 
the  influence  of  this  monarchy  stretched  as  far  to  the 
southeast  as  the  lands  of  the  Kazembe,  east  of  Lake 
Mweru,  and  as  far  west  as  the  Kwango  River  and  the 
boundaries  of  Angola. 

"About  a  hundred  years  ago  a  Lunda  adventurer,  at 
the  head  of  a  hunting  or  raiding  caravan,  established 
himself  among  the  Bayaka  on  the  Kwango  River.  Pre- 
vious to  this  even  a  great  trading  race,  the  Imbangala, 
had  been  formed  in  the  valley  of  the  middle  Kwango  by 
a  mixture  of  Lunda  with  less  civilized  people — probably 
the  cannibal  and  savage  'Jaggers'  of  Portuguese  terri- 
tory."— Sir  Harry  H.  Johnston  in  "George  Grenfell." 


CHAPTER  XIII 
THROUGH  DILOLO 

ON  the  second  we  left  the  main  trail  to  reach 
the  Forminiere  Camp  so  as  to  meet  the  other 
two  Americans,  Messrs.  Johnson  and  McVey. 
The  trail  was  exceedingly  rough  and  we  passed 
through  seven  deserted  villages  where  there 
had  been  a  large  native  population.  The  na- 
tives told  us  that  some  government  officials 
had  been  stealing  cattle  and  that  the  people 
had  risen  in  rebellion  and  many  had  fled 
across  the  Kassai  into  the  hinterland  of 
Angola,  where  they  would  be  undisturbed  by 
Europeans.  They  had  left  their  villages  and 
gardens  in  the  hope,  evidently,  of  returning 
after  this  Chokwe  rebellion  had  subsided  and 
a  change  for  the  better  had  taken  place. 

The  weariness  caused  by  successive  days  of 
watching  the  carriers  brought  on  fever,  and 
we  looked  forward  to  reaching  a  white  man's 
camp  where  we  could  have  a  day  of  rest  and 
cheer.  In  this  we  were  destined  to  be  disap- 
pointed, for  on  reaching  Luernbe  we  were  told 
by  the  capita  in  charge  that  the  two  white  men 

170 


THROUGH  DILOLO  177 

had  been  away  from  camp  three  weeks,  but 
were  expected  home  at  any  time.  I  gave  him 
a  note,  and  told  him  to  send  it  at  once,  telling 
his  masters  that  we  would  go  on  to  a  certain 
village  the  next  night  and  of  our  route  on  to 
Dilolo  so  that  if  possible  we  could  meet  some- 
where on  the  way. 

But  we  left  the  next  morning  without  much 
hope  of  seeing  them.  The  next  night  as  we 
encamped  a  messenger  arrived  saying  that  his 
masters  were  not  far  away,  and  hearing  that 
we  were  in  the  vicinity  had  sent  him  to  find 
us.  I  got  on  my  wheel  and  went  with  the  boy 
and  found  them  encamped  three  miles  away. 
They  had  made  twenty-seven  miles  that  day 
in  a  desperate  effort  to  reach  us  and  could  not 
move  their  men  any  further  that  night,  but 
said  they  would  be  over  to  breakfast  the  next 
morning. 

Indeed,  they  were  there  before  we  were  quite 
dressed  at  the  very  break  of  dawn.  They,  like 
ourselves,  were  a  hard  looking  sight.  Travel- 
ing through  the  long  grass,  which  cuts  like  a 
knife,  over  burnt  veld,  and  through  dew-laden 
vleis,  soon  reduces  the  best  outfitted  travelers 
to  the  appearance  of  hobos. 

But  we  cared  not  a  whit  for  the  looks  of  our 
clothes.  No  one  can  express  the  mutual  joy 


178          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

of  meeting  our  own  countrymen  in  this  seem- 
ingly out-of-the-world  place.  These  two  men 
had  not  seen  a  white  woman  for  nearly  two 
years.  As  soon  as  they  had  received  my  note 
they  had  hastily  packed  and,  following  their 
compasses,  for  there  was  no  direct  trail,  had 
pushed  their  men  toward  the  point  where  they 
had  hoped  to  intercept  us.  They  said  they 
would  have  gone  three  times  that  distance  out 
of  their  way  to  see  an  English-speaking  person 
and  especially  a  white  woman. 

We  decided  to  celebrate  the  Fourth  of  July 
together,  although  it  was  only  the  29th  of 
June.  We  were  nearly  out  of  European  food, 
except  for  the  flour  Mr.  Young  had  given  and 
one  of  the  57  varieties  of  pickles.  And,  by  the 
way,  we  will  never  forget  the  warm  glow  that 
once  came  over  us  while  traveling  in  one  of 
the  most  forsaken  parts  of  the  continent  many, 
many  miles  from  white  men  or  native  villages, 
when  once  we  met  about  one  hundred  almost 
nude  carriers  going  to  a  far  distant  station, 
and  caught  the  sight  of  a  familiar  box  whose 
cheerful  red  letters  proclaimed  it  to  be  "Heinz 
Tomato  Catsup."  And  along  with  it  the  "57 
varieties"  which  brought  up  visions  of  street 
car  signs  and  bustling  streets  of  a  noisy 
metropolis  in  which  our  minds  traveled  for 


THROUGH  DILOLO  179 

the  next  few  hours  while  our  feet  mechanically 
slogged,  slogged  over  the  wildest  wilds  of 
Africa. 

Messrs.  Johnson  and  McVey  were  prospect- 
ing for  gold,  and  the  result  of  their  work  thus 
far  led  them  to  be  very  sanguine  about  the 
future  of  this  section  of  country  from  a  min- 
ing point  of  view. 

They  were  much  concerned  about  our  pro- 
ject of  going  on  south  to  Dilolo,  since  they  had 
been  down  there  not  long  before  when  the 
Chokwe  rebellion  broke  forth,  and  had  had  to 
leave  in  a  hurry. 

Coming  one  night  about  sundown  to  a 
Chokwe  village  they  had  made  their  camp  and 
exchanged  presents  with  the  chief  as  usual. 
All  was  most  amicable  when  a  messenger 
arrived.  The  chief  immediately  came  over  and 
told  them  that  about  two  hundred  and  fifty 
armed  warriors  would  reach  his  town  that 
night,  and  that  he  could  not  possibly  answer 
for  the  lives  of  the  white  men  if  they  were 
caught  there.  These  men  were  roused  to  the 
highest  pitch  of  insurrection  by  certain  things 
that  had  occurred  and  they  would  shoot  the 
first  white  men  they  saw  regardless  of  who 
they  were.  So  the  chief  urged  them  to  leave. 

But  before  he  had  finished  speaking  the 


180          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

carriers  had  tied  up  their  loads  and  were  off, 
and  there  was  nothing  for  Messrs.  Johnson 
and  McVey  to  do  but  to  follow.  As  a  usual 
thing  the  white  man  leads  his  caravan  and  it 
is  hard  to  get  the  carriers  to  keep  up,  but  this 
time  it  was  reversed.  These  carriers,  being 
Alunda  and  not  Chokwe,  knew  that  the  safety 
of  their  own  skins  lay  in  getting  as  far  away 
as  possible  from  that  advancing  Chokwe  army, 
so  they  took  the  lead,  and  all  night  long  the 
two  white  men  had  to  race  for  all  their  legs 
were  worth,  following  the  dim  black  objects 
ahead. 

The  affair  was  not  without  its  humorous 
phase,  though  they  were  all  too  alarmed  to  see 
any  humor  in  it  at  the  time.  Shortly  after 
Johnson  and  McVey  had  reached  this  village, 
a  Kassai  Co.  man  arrived  also.  This  particu- 
lar man  had  the  reputation  of  being  a  dandy 
of  the  first  class.  He  always  rode  in  his  mono- 
cycle  or  was  carried  in  a  machilla ;  in  fact,  he 
was  practically  never  known  to  walk.  It  was 
Mr.  Lefevre  who  said  of  him,  "He  always 
comes  into  camp  absolutely  immaculate.  I  do 
not  know  how  he  manages  it,  but  he  always 
looks  as  if  he  had  just  come  from  his  bath, 
attired  in  spotless  linen,  shaved,  and  not  a 
hair  displaced.  The  rest  of  us  can  never  get 


THROUGH  DILOLO  181 

the  secret  of  being  so  spotless  at  all  times,  no 
matter  what  the  path  is." 

But  when  the  summons  came  on  this  par- 
ticular night,  the  Monsieur  knew  his  fate  if 
he  lagged  behind,  and  so  there  was  nothing 
for  it  but  to  leg  it  also  for  a  weary  thirty  miles 
through  the  dark  on  the  veld  and  certainly  for 
once  in  his  life,  at  least,  did  not  arrive  at  his 
destination  in  an  immaculate  condition.  He 
told  us  later  that  he  was  stiff  and  footsore  for 
a  week  or  more  after  that  unusual  bit  of  exer- 
cise. 

In  view  of  their  personal  experiences,  our 
compatriots  strongly  advised  us  to  turn  due 
east  and  abandon  any  attempt  to  go  to  Dilolo. 

"You  cannot  go  through  the  Chokwe  coun- 
try," they  assured  us,  "even  if  you  could  get 
carriers  from  Dilolo,  which  you  surely  will 
not  be  able  to  do." 

But  while  they  had  reason  on  their  side,  I 
had  engaged  these  carriers  to  go  to  Dilolo,  and 
I  did  not  feel  that  I  ought  to  turn  aside  in 
another  direction  for  any  light  reason. 

Mrs.  Springer  was  as  strongly  convinced  as 
myself  that  we  should  go  on  as  we  had  started. 
In  the  first  place,  to  turn  to  the  east  over  the 
pathless  veld  would  very  likely  mean  that  all 
our  carriers  would  desert  us  and  that  we 


182          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

should  be  left  in  a  very  bad  situation.  From 
that  viewpoint  alone,  it  seemed  the  better 
policy  to  press  on  to  Dilolo.  But  also,  it  was 
important  that  we  explore  that  section  now 
while  we  had  the  chance,  so  that  we  might 
see  the  conditions  there  and  know  its  mission- 
ary possibilities  for  the  future. 

So  bidding  farewell  to  our  friends,  who,  just 
as  they  were  packing  up,  found  a  plum  pud- 
ding— all  they  had  left  in  their  "chop  boxes" 
— and  gave  it  to  us  in  parting,  we  gained  the 
main  path  by  noon  and  had  covered  twenty- 
seven  miles  before  we  camped  that  night.  My 
wheel  had  been  in  a  tery  sullen  mood  for  sev- 
eral days  now,  and  on  this  day  I  had  been 
thrown  from  it  three  times.  Have  you  ever 
noticed  how  a  bicycle  seems  to  take  on  a  living 
personality  at  times?  How  it  loses  its  sem- 
blance to  a  mere  machine  and  acts  as  if  im- 
pelled by  a  thinking,  acting  brain?  At  such 
times  we  are  wont  to  speak  of  it  as  being 
"possessed,"  and  certainly  mine  had  acted  for 
days  as  if  possessed  of  an  evil  spirit.  It  played 
up  on  me  like  a  bucking  bronco. 

In  the  three  days  from  here  to  Dilolo  we 
were  on  the  Lulua-Kassai  divide,  which  is 
nearly  four  thousand  feet  above  sea  level,  but 
very  swampy  in  places. 


THROUGH  DILOLO  183 

We  passed  through  several  large  Lunda  vil- 
lages. Just  before  reaching  Dilolo,  we  went 
through  a  very  large  settlement  of  ex-slaves 
that  the  Belgians  had  freed  from  Angola  na- 
tives who  had  been  raiding  in  the  Congo. 
These  were  settled  under  the  protection  of  the 
government  Poste  at  Dilolo.  Probably  twenty 
tribes  were  represented  among  them. 

On  the  other  side  of  the  Poste,  the  simi- 
lar settlements  were  predominantly  Lunda. 
Swarms  of  children  busy  at  nothing  but 
heathen  games  were  to  be  seen.  What  a 
magnificent  opportunity  is  lying  neglected 
here!  The  Benguella  Kail  way  from  Lobito 
Bay  to  Chilongo  will  probably  pass  right  by 
Dilolo.  What  a  great  gain  if  we  could  reach 
these  towns  before  the  advent  of  the  railway 
and  its  accompanying  evil  influences ! 

Mr.  Classon,  the  agent  of  the  Kassai  Co., 
greeted  us  most  cordially.  He  regretted  that 
his  store  was  so  nearly  empty  that  he  could 
let  us  have  only  a  small  amount  of  trading 
goods.  The  carriers  from  Kapanga  would  not 
come  to  Dilolo  on  account  of  the  rebellion,  but 
for  that  matter,  Kapanga  could  not  get  loads 
from  the  north,  so  that  there  were  no  loads  to 
forward.  The  situation  was  a  very  critical 
one.  The  transport  system  has  been  steadily 


184          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

getting  worse  there  ever  since,  and  the  only 
hope  is  the  advance  of  the  Benguella  Railway, 
which  unfortunately  has  been  held  back  by 
this  European  war. 

Mr.  Lefevre  was  here  also,  having  come 
directly  from  Kimpuki,  across  country.  He 
was  ill  with  fever.  It  seemed  to  us  that  much 
of  the  cause  of  so  much  fever  among  the  Bel- 
gians was  due  to  the  plan  of  their  houses  and 
the  lack  of  provision  for  a  fire  during  the  cool 
evenings.  Their  dining-room  is  usually  in  the 
center  of  the  house  with  no  outer  wall  between 
it  and  the  veranda.  It  is  like  a  cave  of  the 
winds  on  most  evenings.  Their  other  rooms 
are  large,  and  we  have  never  seen  a  fireplace 
in  any  of  their  houses.  We  ourselves  have  a 
fire  morning  and  evening  nearly  eight  months 
in  the  year  in  Africa,  especially  evenings,  even 
when  we  are  in  tents  on  the  trail.  So  do  many 
Britishers,  and  we  are  confident  that  this  pre- 
vents a  great  deal  of  sickness.  Take  it  all  in 
all,  in  spite  of  over  five  thousand  miles  of 
travel  in  all  sorts  of  country  and  over  native 
trails,  we  have  had  a  remarkably  small  amount 
of  fever.  This  is  due,  we  believe,  to  our  care 
against  getting  chilled,  our  temperate  lives, 
the  use  of  mosquito  nets  at  night,  if  possible, 
and  the  taking  of  no  undue  or  foolhardy  risks. 


THROUGH  DILOLO  185 

We  also  follow  the  practice  of  taking  five 
grains  of  quinine  a  day  when  on  the  trail. 

Mr.  Classon  referred  me  to  the  headman  of 
one  of  the  near  villages,  who,  he  said,  would 
give  me  men  if  anyone  would. 

I  immediately  got  into  touch  with  this  man, 
and  he  came  to  our  camp  bringing  a  present. 
We  arranged  with  him  to  supply  us  with  eight 
carriers  to  go  to  Chilemo.  This  was  the  path 
that  we  had  expected  to  take  and  we  followed 
our  rule  of  continuing  in  the  course  decided 
upon  until  absolutely  hindered  or  turned 
aside.  Our  Gideon's  test  here  was  that  if  we 
could  get  men  to  go  on  the  Chilemo  path  we 
would  go  that  way.  But  if,  after  exhausting 
every  means  to  go  that  way,  we  failed,  we 
would  see  by  what  other  route  we  could  get 
back  to  Lukoshi,  which  was  about  one  hundred 
and  fifty  miles  due  east  of  Dilolo. 

I  went  over  to  the  Dilolo  Poste,  or  fort,  with 
its  ramparts  and  moat,  accessible  by  means  of 
a  drawbridge.  Everything  there  seemed  quiet, 
though  the  military  forces  were  much  in  evi- 
dence. I  met  Monsieur  Martin,  Chef  du  Sec- 
teur,  and  with  him  was  Lieutenant  Clique, 
who  had  accompanied  Lieutenant  Hedo  from 
Elisabethville.  He  was  under  instructions  to 
wait  here  for  a  party  which  was  following 


186          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

from  Elisabethville  to  take  over  the  adminis- 
tration of  this  section  incidental  to  its  transfer 
to  the  Katanga  province. 

Dilolo  is  in  the  remotest  southwest  corner 
of  the  Belgian  Congo,  and  this  Lulua  District 
had  up  to  this  time  been  administered  from 
Boma.  It  was  so  remote  that  the  higher  offi- 
cials seldom,  if  ever,  penetrated  there.  And 
when  King  Leopold's  reign  was  over  and  Bel- 
gium as  a  nation,  with  the  humane  and  pro- 
gressive King  Albert  at  the  head,  took  over 
the  administration,  orders  were  given  at  once 
to  cease  all  oppression  of  the  natives  and 
administer  the  country  with  regard  to  the 
rights  and  welfare  of  the  natives. 

But  it  was  no  light  task  to  reverse  and  revo- 
lutionize the  administration  of  a  territory 
more  than  seventy  times  the  size  of  Belgium, 
and  where  travel  was  very  slow  and  transpor- 
tation most  difficult. 

Another  great  problem  was  the  personnel 
of  the  officials.  While  many  of  them  had  dis- 
approved of  the  old  order  and  had  rejoiced 
at  the  new  policy,  falling  in  line  with  it  at 
once,  yet  a  considerable  percentage  of  the  offi- 
cials had  thoroughly  imbibed  Leopold's  ava- 
ricious spirit  and  his  viewpoint  that  he  held 
the  country  for  what  he  could  get  out  of  it. 


THROUGH  DILOLO  187 

As  these  men  had  profited  largely  from  per- 
centages on  rubber,  ivory,  and  other  commodi- 
ties of  the  royal  stores,  as  well  as  by  private 
looting  of  the  natives,  they  naturally  favored 
the  old  regime.  And  while  the  authorities 
desired  to  weed  out  officials  of  this  class,  it 
was  manifestly  impossible  to  do  so  in  a  day 
or  even  in  a  year. 

The  Dilolo  Poste  being  so  remote,  had  been 
therefore  one  of  the  last  to  be  brought  under 
the  new  order. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  men  will  deteri- 
orate rapidly  when  submerged  in  heathenism 
and  will  very  often  adopt  a  point  of  view  that 
would  have  been  utterly  repugnant  to  them  on 
entering  such  service  as  this;  and  where  not 
checked  by  higher  officials  and  a  thoroughly 
sane  policy,  they  will  naturally  go  to  extremes. 

I  found  at  the  Poste,  much  to  my  surprise, 
that  Leopold's  portraits  occupied  several 
prominent  places,  whereas  no  portrait  of  King 
Albert  could  be  seen.  "Ah !"  I  said  to  myself, 
"this  accounts  for  the  actions  of  some  of  these 
officials."  In  reality  they  have  not  learned  of 
the  death  of  Leopold  and  the  consequent  pass- 
ing of  his  methods  of  administration — and  of 
the  coming  of  the  new  King  and  a  new  regime. 

Mr.  Martin,  a  natty  young  fellow  of  mixed 


188          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

Belgian  and  Portuguese  origin,  asked  about 
our  route  and  strongly  advised  me  not  to  take 
the  Chilemo  path.  In  fact  he  all  but  posi- 
tively forbade  my  going  that  way,  as  it  was  on 
that  path  near  Nkuku's  that  his  soldiers  had 
been  attacked  under  his  assistant  and  two 
native  soldiers  had  been  killed.  He  repeated 
his  warning  two  or  three  times  and  advised  us 
to  go  on  the  path  to  the  north  of  east. 

But  while  I  knew  that  it  would  likely  be 
fatal  for  him  to  take  that  path,  I  had  little  to 
fear  for  my  own  party,  as  the  natives  had 
nothing  against  us. 

The  trouble  had  arisen  over  unjust  deals  in 
cattle  with  the  natives  and  by  the  treatment 
of  the  native  women.  The  natives  suffered 
long  and  might  have  endured  the  cattle  deals, 
but  when  it  came  to  their  own  wives  it  was 
too  much  for  them.  They  had  all  justice  on 
their  side. 

From  the  Poste,  I  went  a  mile  away  to  a 
store  owned  by  a  Portuguese  named  Courrier, 
and  there  I  met  a  veterinary,  Dr.  Hubert.  I 
saw  quite  a  herd  of  cattle  at  that  place,  one  of 
which  was  being  slaughtered  for  beef  at  the 
time. 

Much  to  the  surprise  of  all  the  Europeans 
at  Dilolo,  our  carriers  were  on  hand  the  next 


THROUGH  DILOLO  189 

forenoon,  and  we  started  for  Chilemo.  Both 
M.  Martin  and  Lieutenant  Clique  shook  their 
heads  when  they  learned  that  we  expected  to 
spend  that  night  at  Nkuku's. 

Our  party  kept  close  together  on  the  trail. 
As  we  neared  Nkuku's  old  town,  we  saw  a 
sentry  dash  away  to  give  warning  of  our  ap- 
proach. Our  carriers  showed  signs  of  nervous- 
ness. As  we  came  into  the  old  town  and  saw 
that  it  was  utterly  deserted  and  burned,  wTe 
began  to  look  for  a  path  to  the  new  town,  and 
at  last  my  boys  picked  up  indications  of  a  new 
path. 

Mrs.  Springer  suggested  that  while  I  kept 
at  the  front,  she  would  drop  behind  to  prevent 
any  of  our  men  bolting.  Some  distance  away 
we  saw  some  women  at  a  water  hole,  but  as  we 
approached  they  disappeared  as  if  the  earth 
had  opened  and  swallowed  them.  Prom  time 
to  time  we  discerned  the  figure  of  a  native  who 
also  disappeared.  We  knew  that  there  were 
sentries  all  along  and  each  was  running  to  the 
chief  with  a  new  message  about  us. 

Our  path  lay  along  the  edge  of  a  vlei  on  one 
side  and  a  rubber  forest  on  the  other.  The  sun 
was  just  going  down  and  the  uncanny  still- 
ness, broken  only  by  the  murmur  of  some  mem- 
ber of  the  caravan  as  he  saw  another  sentry 


190  PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

run,  began  to  get  on  our  nerves.  But  for  my 
guarding  one  end  of  the  caravan  and  my  wife 
the  other,  all  of  the  Dilolo  men  would  have 
bolted,  of  that  I  am  certain. 

Now  the  path  suddenly  came  into  one  of  the 
mafunda  jungles,  and  though  we  could  plainly 
hear  the  voices  of  men,  women,  and  children 
we  could  see  no  one.  It  seemed  to  us  that  the 
walls  of  Troy  were  simple  beside  the  entrance 
to  this  Chokwe  town.  So  intricate  were  the 
paths  that  Mrs.  Springer  and  I  became  sepa- 
rated, and  while  she  could  hear  my  voice  on 
the  other  side  of  a  mafunda  thicket,  she  could 
not  see  me  nor  learn  how  to  reach  me  until  one 
of  the  natives  acted  as  guide.  I  had  no  guns 
with  me,  and  the  presence  of  my  wife  was 
ample  evidence  to  them  that  whoever  I  might 
be  I  was  on  a  peaceable  errand.  There  can  be 
no  doubt  but  that  the  sentries  had  brought 
word  that  I  was  unarmed  and  had  my  wife 
with  me,  else  it  is  possible  that  I  would  have 
been  held  up  long  before  I  had  ever  reached 
the  encampment. 

As  soon  as  I  saw  any  of  the  people,  I  asked 
for  Nkuku  and  was  told  that  he  was  not  there. 
I  said  that  I  wished  to  camp  there  for  the 
night,  and  was  directed  to  one  of  the  open 
places  so  common  to  this  kind  of  jungle.  Our 


THROUGH  DILOLO  191 

Dilolo  men  and  our  own  boys  were  questioned 
as  to  who  we  were  and  what  we  were  doing 
there,  and  when  the  people  were  fully  satisfied 
regarding  us  Nkuku  himself  came  out  and 
greeted  us,  bringing  a  present  of  meal  and  a 
fowl. 

We  camped  in  that  open  circle  surrounded 
by  Bachokwe  on  every  side.  After  supper 
Nkuku  came  to  our  evening  fire  and  sat  and 
chatted  with  us  for  an  hour  or  more.  He  gave 
us  an  account  of  the  oppression  that  had  led 
up  to  the  rebellion,  the  taking  of  the  cattle 
with  practically  no  payment,  and  then  the 
seizure  of  the  women.  Then  he  said,  "We 
would  not  have  been  men  if  we  had  not  risen 
to  the  defense  of  our  wives  and  children." 

I  was  glad  to  be  able  to  reassure  him  as  to 
the  future.  I  told  him  that  the  officials  they  had 
had  in  the  past  did  not  truly  represent  the  new 
king.  In  response  to  my  queries  they  said 
that,  yes,  they  had  always  had  honest  dealings 
with  the  Kassai  Co.  men,  and  yes,  they  were 
"Bula  Matadi"  also.  I  assured  them  that  the 
new  king  was  a  man  with  a  good  heart  toward 
his  people. 

I  asked  the  chief  if  he  had  never  had  bad 
messengers  go  forth  and  pervert  his  words 
and  misrepresent  him.  He  admitted  that  he 


192          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

had.  Even  so,  I  told  him,  these  officials  mis- 
represent their  king.  Other  officials  were  even 
now  on  the  path  coming  to  Dilolo  to  set  mat- 
ters right  for  the  native  people. 

He  said  that  he  was  glad.  Neither  he  nor 
his  people  wanted  war.  They  were  for  peace 
all  the  time  but,  he  repeated,  "we  would  not 
be  men  if  we  allowed  our  women  and  children 
to  be  mistreated  and  killed  and  did  not  rise 
to  defend  them." 

This  talk  with  him  prepared  the  way  and 
probably  did  much  toward  his  meeting  the 
Commandant  a  month  later  and  coming  to  a 
friendly  understanding. 

We  had  been  overwhelmed  with  meal  from 
Nkuku's  people,  who  had  plenty  of  meal  but 
no  salt,  so  they  wished  to  make  the  exchange. 
While  we  were  at  breakfast  three  of  our  Dilolo 
men  cleared  out.  Not  one  of  Nkuku's  young 
bucks  would  consider  carrying  a  load  for  us 
and,  in  fact,  none  of  them  would  guide  us,  so 
that  the  chief  himself  had  to  lead  us  out  of  his 
labyrinth  of  jungle  onto  the  main  path  nearly 
three  miles  away.  We  had  to  put  two  loads 
into  the  mono-cycle  and  Mrs.  Springer  had 
to  walk  several  miles. 

Getting  carriers  from  day  to  day,  and  in 
some  cases  from  village  to  village,  we  passed 


THROUGH  DILOLO  193 

through  the  danger  zone  and  came  to  Chilemo 
on  the  fourth  day.  Here  were  three  white  men 
of  the  Kassai  Co.  who  made  our  stay  as  pleas- 
ant as  possible,  and  when  the  surly  Chokwe 
chief  failed  to  give  us  any  carriers,  they  called 
their  own  personal  boys  and  sent  them  with  us 
one  day's  trek. 

Along  here  the  villages  were  a  great  mixture 
of  Chokwe,  Luena,  Lunda,  and  Andembwe. 
The  difficulties  with  carriers  only  increased, 
and  it  was  a  weary  caravan  that  came  to 
Mpumba's  old  village  one  evening  after  sun- 
down only  to  find  desolation  and  solitude. 

In  the  center  was  the  hut  where  Mpumba 
was  buried.  This  was  the  very  town  where  ten 
months  previously  we  had  seen  the  swarms  of 
lively  children  who  had  raced  so  merrily  with 
my  bicycle,  the  first  they  had  ever  seen.  It 
was  here  that  we  had  felt  such  a  warmth  of 
hospitality  and  interest  and  where  we  had 
been  surrounded  with  youths  eager  to  tell  us 
Luunda  words. 

Now  most  of  the  huts  were  burned  and  there 
was  litter  all  over  the  place.  Mpumba  had 
been  shot  in  consequence  of  a  quarrel  with  a 
neighboring  chief,  and  was  the  fourth  head- 
man to  be  thus  murdered  in  two  years. 

The  next  morning  we  faced  a  sullen,  almost 


194          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

icy  cold  river,  so  different  from  the  merry, 
sparkling  little  river  in  whose  warm  waters 
we  had  so  gladly  waded  before.  We  found  it 
impossible  to  wade  across  at  that  spot,  but 
finally  got  across  farther  up  where  the  water 
reached  nearly  to  our  thighs  and  the  current 
was  very  swift  and  strong.  Mrs.  Springer  had 
to  wade  too,  it  being  impossible  to  carry  her 
over  in  safety. 

About  seven  miles  on  we  came  to  Sami- 
lunga's  village  and,  getting  new  carriers, 
pushed  on  to  Lukoshi,  a  day's  march  of 
twenty-two  miles. 

Thus  ended  a  journey  of  six  hundred  miles, 
covering  eight  weeks  of  time,  and  one  of  the 
most  trying  we  had  ever  experienced. 

Besides  our  own  boys,  of  whom  there  were 
six,  we  had  needed  an  additional  twelve  each 
day.  We  ought  to  have  had  that  many  to  go 
with  us  from  Kazembe's  villages  making  the 
round  trip.  But  instead  of  that  we  had  a  total 
of  over  one  hundred  and  fifty  different 
carriers,  and  fifty  of  these  ran  away  before 
doing  the  amount  of  the  journey  which  they 
had  agreed  upon. 

Truly  it  was  a  land  needy  of  the  Gospel. 


CHAPTER  XIV 
A  DELUGE  OF  BELGIANS 

How  beautiful  our  house  looked  as  we 
climbed  the  western  bank  at  Lukoshi  and  it 
came  into  view!  Not  even  Windsor  Castle 
could  compare  in  our  eyes  with  this  crude  mud 
and  pole  structure  with  its  leaky  grass- 
thatched  roof,  for  it  was  our  HOME.  And 
after  two  months  of  living  in  a  small,  hot  tent, 
it  was  a  treat  to  be  in  a  bedroom  once  more 
and  to  sleep  on  a  real  bed,  even  though  that 
bed  were  made  of  poles  and  the  mattress  of 
lumpy  grass. 

And  then  the  luxury  of  having  fresh  goat's 
milk  and  vegetables,  though  Billy  had  eaten 
more  beans  than  was  good  for  him  and  thus 
reduced  the  number  that  came  to  the  table. 
But  there  was  plenty  of  fresh,  crispy  lettuce 
and  cucumbers,  and  we  fairly  reveled  in  the 
pleasure  of  occupying  our  simple  home  again. 

We  now  settled  down  in  our  minds  to  nine 
months  of  solid  routine  work,  the  only  solid 
foundation  on  which  to  build.  It  is  the  quiet, 
steady,  uneventful  plugging  along  that  estab- 

195 


196          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

lishes  confidence  among  the  people,  trains  a 
native  ministry,  and  forms  the  very  bulwark 
of  a  Mission. 

One  of  the  first  things  to  be  done  now  was 
to  build  a  new  bridge  at  the  west  crossing,  so 
that  another  rainy  season  would  not  find  us 
cut  off  from  the  outside  world,  and  we  would 
have  to  use  our  bath  for  a  boat  in  which  to 
bring  over  the  mail. 

On  the  fifth  day  after  our  return,  just  as  the 
boys  were  dismantling  the  bridge,  Jim  came 
up  to  the  house  saying  that  there  was  a  white 
man  crossing  the  bridge.  As  we  had  had  but 
one  visit  from  a  white  man  during  the  year 
that  we  had  been  there,  we  were  greatly  sur- 
prised. 

I  went  to  meet  him  and  learned  that  it  was 
M.  Garnier,  who  brought  a  letter  from  Com- 
mandant Gosme,  the  new  Commissaire  of  the 
Lulua  District  of  the  Katanga,  stating  that 
he  had  heard  of  the  revolt  near  Dilolo  and  had 
sent  M.  Garnier  ahead  to  afford  us  protection. 
Appreciative  of  his  thoughtfulness,  we  could 
not  but  smile  as  we  recalled  our  trip  right 
through  the  seat  of  the  revolt  and  our  search 
of  and  visit  to  Nkuku. 

We  found  M.  Garnier  to  be  a  perfect  gentle- 
man, and  although  he  did  not  speak  a  word 


A  DELUGE  OF  BELGIANS  197 

of  English  and  we  scarcely  any  French,  yet 
we  managed  to  make  ourselves  mutually 
understood  and  enjoyed  his  company  very 
much  in  the  intervening  five  days  before  the 
rest  of  the  party  arrived.  He  was  then  under 
appointment  to  Dilolo,  but  in  a  few  months 
was  sent  to  Kapanga,  where  Mr.  Heinkel 
found  him  in  charge  the  next  June.  His 
advice  and  assistance  to  Mr.  Heinkel  at  that 
time  were  very  valuable. 

M.  Gamier  had  some  fifty  native  soldiers 
with  him.  He  camped  a  mile  from  us  on  the 
other  side  of  the  river,  and  built  a  caravansary 
of  three  roofs  on  the  new  cleared  path  that 
Lieutenant  Hedo  had  instructed  the  chiefs 
along  the  way  to  clear  from  Kambove  to  Dilolo 
via  Kayoyo. 

Five  days  later  Commandant  Gosme,  accom- 
panied by  Lieutenant  Brausse,  arrived  with 
some  fifty  more  soldiers,  and  the  party  rested 
in  the  caravansary  for  a  week.  This  gave  the 
opportunity  to  call  in  the  chiefs  and  explain 
the  new  administration  to  them.  Kazembe 
had  to  hustle  his  people  for  miles  around  to 
bring  in  food  required  for  the  native  police, 
their  families,  and  the  carriers.  All  this  was 
paid  for  in  Belgian  currency,  an  attempt 
to  get  the  natives  used  to  cash;  but,  as  they 


198          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

said  to  me  later  with  a  wry  face :  "What  is  the 
use  of  cash  when  there  are  no  stores  in  which 
to  spend  it?  We  cannot  eat  francs,  and  francs 
will  not  keep  us  warm  at  night." 

The  Belgians  paid  the  natives  a  good  price 
for  all  that  they  got,  but  it  nearly  cleaned  out 
this  shiftless  and  improvident  communitiy  so 
that  real  suffering  followed  from  the  shortage 
of  food  before  the  year  was  out. 

Commandant  Gosme  was  a  burly,  brusk, 
capable  administrator,  with  sixteen  years'  ex- 
perience in  the  Congo,  just  the  type  of  man 
needed  for  the  task  in  this  District.  We  were 
able  to  give  him  a  sketch  of  the  route  to  Dilolo 
with  names  of  all  the  villages  en  route  and 
much  information  as  to  the  country,  particu- 
larly that  pertaining  to  the  revolt.  We  told 
him  how  Nkuku  had  professed  his  entire 
allegiance  to  the  Belgian  administration  while 
revolting  against  certain  of  its  administrators. 

The  Commandant  greatly  appreciated  our 
viewpoint  of  the  revolt,  as  it  coincided  with 
his  own  conclusions.  In  passing,  I  am  glad 
to  say  that  he  sent  word  to  Nkuku  of  his  peace- 
ful approach  and  had  a  most  satisfactory  in- 
terview with  him,  bringing  about  an  early  ter- 
mination of  the  revolt  in  that  section  at  least. 

During  the  stay  of  the  officials,  we  had  many 


A  DELUGE  OF  BELGIANS  199 

times  of  breaking  bread  together  and  were 
interested  to  hear  the  new  plans  concerning 
mail  and  other  routes.  So  far,  all  our  mail 
had  come  through  Kaleni  Hill  in  Ehodesia, 
eighty  miles  away.  Now  the  Government  was 
to  establish  a  weekly  mail  route  past  our  very 
door.  What  a  joy  to  get  our  mail  in  this 
manner  and  so  much  quicker! 

These  three  white  men  left  on  the  24th  of 
July,  and  the  next  day  Captain  Legeois 
arrived  with  about  fifty  soldiers  and  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  carriers.  The  natives  were  abso- 
lutely dismayed  at  the  thought  of  having  to 
feed  another  such  an  army.  Kazembe  came  to 
me  privately  and  especially  requested  that  I 
write  a  letter  telling  the  Belgians  to  leave  the 
country.  He  did  not  care  for  their  protection, 
he  did  not  want  their  help,  and,  above  all,  he 
did  not  want  to  pay  taxes.  The  Africans  share 
with  others  the  wish  to  enjoy  the  benefits  of 
government  without  payment  of  taxes.  For 
in  spite  of  his  vaunted  independence  not  many 
months  later  Kazembe  came  to  me  in  great 
fright  and  wanted  me  to  write  another  letter 
begging  the  "Bula  Matadi"  to  protect  him 
from  an  old  enemy. 

Eight  on  the  heels  of  Captain  Legeois  came 
Messrs.  Anglebert  and  Truyens  from  the 


200          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

southeast,  and  the  following  day  Captain 
Legeois  and  M.  Angelbert  left  for  Dilolo  and 
after  another  day's  visit  with  us  M.  Truyens 
turned  back  to  his  isolated  station  on  the 
border  where  he  was  customs  officer — where 
no  customs  were  to  be  received. 

So,  while  for  nine  months  of  the  previous 
year  we  had  not  seen  another  white  person 
besides  our  three  selves,  we  now  had  had  in 
the  past  three  weeks  Belgians  and  more  Bel- 
gians and  still  more  Belgians.  To  be  sure 
though  numbering  only  six  in  all,  they  seemed 
more  like  sixty,  and  entirely  disturbed  our 
hitherto  quiet  living. 

When  we  opened  our  third  year  of  school  on 
July  31,  there  was  a  definite  interrogation  in 
our  minds  as  to  where  we  would  be  when  we 
opened  the  fourth  year  of  the  Fox  Bible  Train- 
ing School  a  year  hence.  Would  this  influx 
of  Belgian  officials  create  a  new  center  west 
of  us  near  Dilolo  and  thus  increase  the  im- 
portance of  this  location?  Or  would  the 
development  of  the  country  to  the  north  enable 
us  to  push  on  and  occupy  at  Mwata  Yamvo's? 
We  could  only  work  on  quietly  and  await 
further  indications. 


CHAPTER  XV 
SECOND  SEASON  AT  LUKOSHI 

ON  our  return  to  LukosM  from  the  trip  to 
Mwata  Yamvo's,  we  found  two  new  applicants 
for  the  school,  Mubita  and  Yambi,  who  had 
come  several  hundred  miles  from  their  home 
in  Barotseland,  near  the  Victoria  Falls.  They 
were  in  search  of  a  school  where  they  could 
learn  English.  Mubita  had  attended  a  ver- 
nacular school  for  six  months  in  his  own  coun- 
try, and  in  that  time  had  mastered  all  the 
books  available  and  the  subjects  taught  there. 
This  had  whetted  his  appetite.  He  wanted 
more  and  broader  schooling,  and  above  all  he 
wanted  English,  the  language  of  power  in 
South  and  Central  Africa. 

Now  English  as  a  subject  was  out  of  the 
scope  of  that  mission.  Some  missions  depre- 
cate the  natives  learning  English.  But  it  is 
not  in  the  power  of  any  mission  nor  of  all 
missions  put  together  to  determine  whether 
the  natives  shall  or  shall  not  learn  English. 
English  they  hear  and  English  they  will  learn, 

SOI 


202          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

not  only  to  speak,  but  to  read  and  write,  even 
though  they  have  to  cross  the  continent  or  even 
the  ocean  itself  in  order  to  get  it.  Scores  and 
hundreds  of  natives  have  gone  to  England  or 
America  in  quest  of  a  higher  education  than 
they  can  find  in  Africa,  rarely  with  the  best 
results  for  themselves. 

The  only  question  that  Missions  can  settle 
ultimately  is  where  such  aspiring  youths  can 
secure  their  hearts'  desire,  and  whether  it  shall 
be  under  conditions  which  develop  the  best 
that  is  in  them  and  meet  their  real  needs  as 
well  as  satisfying  their  ambitions.  Many  a 
bright,  promising  youth  has  been  lost  to  the 
particular  mission  field  in  which  he  was  found, 
and  in  too  many  cases  to  the  Kingdom  itself, 
by  the  refusal  of  those  missions  to  meet  the 
needs  and  satisfy  the  normal  and  proper  aspir- 
ations awakened  within  them. 

Mubita  and  Yambi  had  passed  several  mis- 
sion schools  in  their  journey  to  us  and  had 
considered  their  merits.  But  either  these 
schools,  like  those  they  had  left,  were  limited 
to  the  vernacular  consisting  ofttimes  of  not 
more  than  six  to  ten  textbooks  at  the  very 
outside,  or  else  they  offered  very  little  English 
and  the  school  was  conducted  solely  by  women. 
Not  satisfied  with  such  prospects,  they  pressed 


SECOND  SEASON  AT  LUKOSHI         203 

on  until  at  last  they  heard  of  a  school  far  away 
in  the  great  forest  and  searched  us  out  and 
were  accepted. 

There  is  a  small  group  of  missions,  largely 
undenominational  or  interdenominational,  who 
contend  for  what  they  choose  to  term  "an 
evangelistic"  policy  in  opposition  to  the 
methods  pursued  by  nearly  all  the  large  or- 
ganizations under  the  regular  church  boards 
which  these  same  parties  characterize  as  "the 
educational  policy." 

The  evangelistic  policy,  followed  notably  by 
the  societies  representing  communions  who 
look  for  a  speedy  end  of  this  dispensation  and 
of  the  second  coming  of  our  Lord  for  the  mil- 
lennium, calls  for  the  major  part  of  the  mis- 
sionary effort  to  be  given  to  the  evangelization 
of  the  present  generation.  In  many  of  these 
missions  their  main  efforts  are  largely  in 
preaching  the  Gospel  to  the  adults. 

What  schools  they  do  have  are  solely  in  the 
vernacular,  and  a  bright  lad  will  go  through 
all  the  books  printed  in  that  vernacular  within 
a  year  of  entering  school  and  starting  on  the 
alphabet.  Then  he  wants  more,  and  if  he  can- 
not get  it  here  will  seek  new  pastures.  Occa- 
sionally some  of  the  individual  missionaries 
will  take  him  on  as  a  private  pupil,  but 


204          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

this  means  irregular  and  much  interrupted 
progress. 

We  have  known  missions  following  this 
policy  who  have  not  had  a  single  trained 
native  to  help  in  school  and  evangelistic  work 
after  working  twenty-five  years  in  the  country, 
and  consequently  not  an  out-station.  And 
where  there  have  been  found  such  evangelists, 
their  knowledge  was  so  shallow  that  they 
could  not  continue  long  in  one  place  with 
acceptance.  To  do  good  evangelistic  work,  the 
natives  must  have  the  Bible  and  there  are  very 
few  African  languages  to-day  into  which  the 
whole  of  the  Bible  has  been  translated. 

Moreover,  the  use  of  women  teachers  exclu- 
sively in  boys'  schools  is  not  the  best  arrange- 
ment, however  excellent  the  teaching  may  be. 
For  centuries  women  have  occupied  a  subordi- 
nate position  in  the  heathen  world,  so  where 
the  school  work  is  left  entirely  to  women,  It 
naturally  does  not  bulk  largely  in  the  native 
mind  as  "a  man's  job."  The  native  under- 
stands and  accepts  the  fact  that  the  mission- 
ary's wife  or  other  lady  members  of  the  mis- 
sion must  do  a  large  part  of  the  teaching  so 
long  as  the  man  does  all  that  he  possibly  can. 
It  is  very  important  that  the  male  missionary 
takes  the  head  and  lead  of  the  school  as  princi- 


SECOND  SEASON  AT  LUKOSHI          205 

pal,  teaching  as  many  classes  as  lie  can,  espe- 
cially one  or  more  Bible  classes  every  day. 

In  contradistinction  to  the  merely  "evan- 
gelistic" policy,  is  a  broader  one  followed 
notably  by  most  of  the  leading  American,  Eng- 
lish, Scotch,  and  Continental  Societies.  These, 
while  not  neglecting  in  any  w^ay  the  preaching 
of  the  Gospel  in  all  the  villages  far  and  near, 
place  education  as  the  primary  and  most  im- 
portant charge  and  activity  of  the  mission, 
setting  their  hope  on  the  rising  generation. 

This  is  on  the  well-recognized  truth  that  the 
world  cannot  be  evangelized  solely  by  foreign 
missionaries.  Even  if  that  were  possible,  it 
would  not  be  desirable.  Africa  cannot  possibly 
be  evangelized  by  the  white  man,  the  American 
Negro,  or  any  other  foreigner,  therefore  our 
supreme  obligation  and  opportunity  is  to  raise 
up  a  native  ministry,  thus  multiplying  our  lives 
many  fold  in  these  new  agents  of  the  Gospel. 

Of  the  one  hundred  boys  or  more  that  we 
and  others  had  in  our  school  and  under  our 
training  in  eastern  Ehodesia  from  1901  to 
1906,  fully  thirty  are  to-day  engaged  in  teach- 
ing and  preaching,  most  of  them  in  charge  of 
stations  out  in  the  villages. 

Of  the  fifty  different  young  men  connected 
with  this  entirely  new  work  during  the  past 


206          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

five  years  in  Central  Africa,  fully  a  dozen  are 
already  capable  of  holding  services  and  teach- 
ing schools  and  are  so  employed. 

We  make  the  school  an  evangelistic  center 
and  a  supreme  evangelistic  opportunity.  The 
daily  Bible  classes  give  an  unexcelled  oppor- 
tunity to  instill  the  divine  truth  and  to  ground 
the  religious  character.  Once  or  twice  a  year 
we  are  wont  to  set  apart  a  week  for  special 
meetings  for  prayer  and  definite  commitment, 
and  on  most  of  these  occasions,  time  and  time 
again,  before  the  close  of  that  week's  meetings, 
every  boy  in  the  school  has  intelligently  and 
definitely  taken  a  stand  as  committing  himself 
to  God. 

Normal  school  methods  for  the  training  of 
native  teachers  are  employed  in  our  schools, 
and  the  older  boys  are  set  to  teaching  the 
younger  ones.  Moreover,  the  senior  students 
are  sent  to  teach  day  schools  in  the  near  vil- 
lages, mine  compounds,  or  wherever  an  oppor- 
tunity is  found.  As  we  hold  the  station  school 
only  in  the  forenoon,  this  enables  no  little 
evangelistic  and  teaching  work  to  be  done 
afternoons. 

There  is  convincing  proof  of  its  value  wher- 
ever the  broader  policy  of  fitting  the  natives 
for  evangelistic  work  and  Christian  leadership 


SECOND  SEASON  AT  LUKOSHI          207 

among  their  own  people  has  been  carried  on. 
It  is  the  natural  method.  They  know  their 
people,  they  speak  their  language,  they  under- 
stand their  trend  of  thought,  they  are  ac- 
quainted with  their  customs,  they  are  used  to 
their  mode  of  life.  In  the  truest  and  ultimate 
sense,  this  is  the  evangelistic  method. 

In  our  work  at  Lukoshi  we  sent  our  boys  out 
far  and  near  teaching  and  preaching  in  the 
wrhole  region  round  about,  and  this  we  could 
not  have  prepared  them  to  do  had  the  teaching 
been  confined  to  the  vernacular  in  which  at 
that  time  we  did  not  have  one  printed  book. 
But  even  in  those  older  missions,  where,  after 
fifty  to  seventy-five  years  there  is  a  translation 
of  the  whole  Bible  into  the  vernuacular,  there 
is  still  such  a  limited  native  literature  that 
leaders  cannot  be  trained  to  do  efficient  work 
by  it  alone. 

We  do,  however,  confine  our  teaching  in 
English  to  the  boarding  schools.  We  sent  out 
our  boys  daily  to  all  the  villages  round  about, 
taking  homemade  charts  whereby  they  taught 
the  elementary  lessons  of  the  vernacular, 
teaching  hymns  which  we  had  duplicated  on 
the  typewriter,  and  also  having  the  children 
memorize  what  few  portions  of  Scripture  we 
had  translated. 


208          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

We  had  only  eleven  boys  in  the  Training 
School  when  we  opened  it  in  July.  These  were 
from  seven  different  tribes,  and  at  times  it 
was  hard  to  keep  the  peace  between  them.  On 
one  occasion,  as  the  boys  were  sitting  around 
their  fire  in  the  evening,  they  got  to  telling  of 
different  tribal  characteristics,  and  in  a  teas- 
ing way  Peter  quietly  remarked  that  the  An- 
dembwe  ate  chicken  hawks.  Now  Mutombo's 
mother  was  a  Mundembwe  and  he  immedi- 
ately resented  this  statement;  heated  words 
passed  between  the  two  until  Mutombo  sud- 
denly jumped  to  his  feet,  ran  to  his  room, 
rolled  up  his  blanket  and  started  off  on  the 
run.  He  would  not  remain  on  the  same  station 
with  a  boy  who  would  say  that  his  people  ate 
chicken  hawks. 

Peter  was  terribly  upset  over  the  matter, 
and  the  next  day  started  out  and  was  gone  two 
days  searching  for  the  runaway,  who  was 
quietly  sitting  at  Kazembe's  village  at  the 
time  and  who  returned  of  his  own  accord  the 
next  day.  After  that  Peter  curbed  his  spirit 
of  teasing  considerably. 

Not  long  after  this  poor  Mutombo  was  act- 
ing as  our  table  boy  and  fell  into  the  tempta- 
tion of  stealing  sugar.  As  we  had  no  doors 
to  lock,  it  was  impossible  for  us  to  keep  things 


SECOND  SEASON  AT  LUKOSHI          209 

under  lock  and  key.  Moreover,  years  before 
we  had  decided  that  such  was  not  the  best  way 
to  instill  the  principles  of  honesty.  So  when 
we  discovered  what  was  going  on,  I  took  the 
houseboys  and  told  them  that  I  had  trusted 
them  and  should  continue  to  do  so  in  the 
future.  That  they  must  be  trained  to  be  men 
and  overcome  a  desire  to  steal  things  placed  in 
their  care.  We  have  found  it  to  be  very 
unusual  for  our  house  boys  to  steal  from  us. 
We  keep  a  pretty  good  watch  on  our  things, 
but  do  not  lock  them  up.  This  stopped  the 
stealing  at  that  time. 

About  this  time  we  had  sent  two  of  our 
own  boys  to  Kaleni  for  the  mail,  as  only  our 
first-class  matter  was  coming  by  the  Belgian 
route.  We  still  had  to  get  our  parcel  post  the 
other  way.  These  two  boys  were  on  their  way 
back  when  they  were  scared  by  a  lion  and  had 
to  spend  the  whole  night  in  a  tree.  It  was  a 
long  time  before  we  could  get  any  others  to 
make  the  trip. 

One  of  our  pleasantest  recollections  of  the 
next  few  weeks  was  the  holding  of  our  prayer 
meetings  out  in  the  yard  by  the  glowing  fire, 
especially  when  there  was  a  moon.  We  had 
by  this  time  cleared  a  considerable  space  in 
the  yard  and  there  was  no  scarcity  of  firewood. 


210          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

So  we  would  have  a  big  fire  and  all  gather 
around  it. 

We  will  never  forget  some  of  these  prayer 
meetings  on  the  moonlight  nights.  From  the 
villages  came  the  sounds  of  dancing  and  the 
sensual  merry-making  of  heathenism.  The 
moon  takes  a  great  hold  on  people.  Here 
around  our  glowing  campfire,  with  Christian 
hymns,  repeating  of  Scriptures  from  memory, 
prayers  of  thanksgiving  to  the  great  Father, 
every  one  of  our  boys  took  some  part,  and  most 
of  them  testified  to  their  gratitude  that  they 
had  been  led  to  know  God  as  their  Father  and 
Jesus  Christ  as  their  Saviour. 

At  this  time  as  problems  arose,  of  daily  con- 
trol of  the  school,  of  teaching  in  simplest  terms 
the  essential  Gospel  message,  of  planning  for 
the  future,  and,  more  than  all,  of  growing  in 
one's  own  religious  experience,  there  was  the 
frequent  necessity  for  going  into  the  seques- 
tered places  of  the  great  forest  to  be  alone  with 
God.  We  shall  ever  look  back  with  gratitude 
for  the  privilege  of  those  years  when  the  voice 
of  the  outside  world  was  little  heard  and  where 
in  humble  silence  the  message  of  the  Father 
penetrated  to  the  very  depth  of  our  souls. 

We  were  impressed  over  and  over  again  with 
the  sentiment  suggested  by  George  Matheson 


SECOND  SEASON  AT  LUKOSHI          211 

on  Exodus  13:17,  18  that  "the  children  of 
Israel  needed  the  wilderness  and  the  wilder- 
ness needed  them."  Truly  we  needed  the 
wilderness  as  much  as  the  wilderness  needed 
us. 

On  the  first  of  September  we  received  a  fly- 
ing visit  from  Mr.  P.  B.  Last,  of  the  Plymouth 
Brethren,  whose  station  was  at  Bunkeya's, 
fifty-two  miles  northeast  of  Kambove.  He  had 
been  on  a  visit  to  Kaleni  Hill  (from  which  at 
this  time  of  writing  we  have  just  learned  that 
he  has  just  carried  off  Miss  Hoyt  as  his  wife), 
and  was  now  on  his  way  back. 

From  him  we  learned  that  no  Protestant 
Mission  had  been  established  at  Elisabethville, 
and  that  no  Mission  work  whatever  had  been 
established  at  Kambove,  toward  which  point 
the  Cape-to-Cairo  Railway  was  now  approach- 
ing. 

As  a  Mission  the  Plymouth  Brethren  had 
been  approached  to  open  a  work  at  Elisabeth- 
ville, and  they  had  carefully  considered  the 
matter,  with  the  conclusion  that  there  were  two 
distinct  fields  of  work:  that  in  the  villages 
where  they,  the  members  of  the  Garenganze 
Mission  established  by  Mr.  Frederick  Arnot, 
had  labored  for  twenty-five  years,  and  where 
they  were  known  by  the  natives.  This  field 


212          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

they  could  not  abandon  and  it  now  demanded 
more  than  their  full  force  of  workers.  In  fact, 
if  they  had  ten  times  their  present  force,  it 
could  be  fully  utilized  in  the  eastern  part  of 
the  Katanga  in  the  Luba-Sanga  field. 

On  the  other  hand,  mining  and  town  work 
was  opening  up,  constituting  a  separate  field. 
To  enter  and  care  for  it  would  demand  all  of 
their  present  force  and  more.  So  they  had 
definitely  decided  to  remain  by  the  village 
work,  for  which  they  were  directly  responsible 
and  in  which  they  were  well  established,  leav- 
ing to  others  the  occupation  of  the  towns  and 
industrial  centers. 

This  message  came  to  us  as  from  above,  and 
in  that  unmistakable  way  in  which  the  Spirit 
can  make  clear  to  the  individual  soul  that  a 
certain  message  of  the  sacred  page  or  of  a 
living  voice  is  for  him  and  comes  as  an  indi- 
vidual revelation. 

All  uncertainty  concerning  our  future 
speedily  vanished,  and  ere  another  month  had 
passed  we  knew  that  the  two  new  stations  to 
be  built  the  next  year  would  be  at  Mwata 
Yamvo's  and  at  Kambove. 


CHAPTER  XVI 
THE  EXODUS  FROM  LUKOSHI 

THE  remaining1  months  of  1912  sped  by 
filled  to  overflowing  with  busy  labor  on  school 
and  language.  There  were  several  of  the  little 
boys  from  the  adjoining  villages  who  came  to 
us,  and  for  a  number  of  weeks  Mrs.  Springer 
had  held  a  school  for  the  girls  in  the  after- 
noons. 

The  girls  in  this  section  were  the  most  hope- 
less that  we  have  ever  seen,  but  we  felt  that 
at  least  some  effort  must  be  made  to  reach 
them.  When  we  announced  the  invitation  to 
come  to  school,  the  mothers  appeared  and  said 
that  if  the  girls  came  to  the  school  they  must 
be  paid  in  salt.  Mrs.  Springer  replied  that  she 
would  not  pay  them  in  salt.  She  would  furnish 
the  beads  for  the  beadwork  and  calico  for  the 
sewing  classes,  but  they  would  get  no  pay.  The 
girls  came  and  the  school  grew  until  it  num- 
bered more  than  twenty. 

I  had  begun  the  translation  of  Mark,  and 
though  it  was  slow  work  I  pushed  on,  hoping 
to  get  the  first  draft  completed  before  April  or 

213 


214          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

May  when  the  rains  would  be  over;  for  there 
was  no  thought  in  our  minds  that  we  would 
leave  before  May. 

But  the  rains  came  on  at  the  beginning  of 
September,  and  all  through  that  month  were 
quite  heavy.  Then  came  a  month  of  practically 
no  rain,  and  the  native  gardens  dried  up  and 
hunger  stalked  abroad  through  that  section. 
In  November  there  again  were  heavy  rains,  but 
December  was  dry.  The  maize  crops  in 
Khodesia  were  a  total  failure,  and  all  the  peo- 
ple around  Kazembe's  were  practically  on  the 
verge  of  starvation.  Whole  villages  packed  up 
and  moved  to  the  north  where  there  was  better 
soil,  and  where  they  could  buy  food  to  keep 
them  alive  until  they  could  get  their  gardens 
going.  We  often  had  to  close  our  school  on 
Thursdays  and  send  most  of  the  boys  to  dis- 
tant villages  to  get  food  for  our  station. 

Commandant  Gosme  had  now  established 
headquarters  at  Kafakumba,  four  days  due 
north  of  us,  and  he  and  the  Chef  du  Poste  at 
Kayoyo  were  sending  messengers  to  Kazembe 
telling  him  that  he  must  have  his  people  pay 
their  taxes.  Kazembe  was  in  a  rage  and  sent 
word  to  me  two  or  three  times  and  finally 
came  in  person  to  say  what  practically 
amounted  to  this,  that  if  I  were  any  good  at 


THE  EXODUS  FROM  LUKOSHI         215 

all  I  would  write  a  letter  and  drive  all  the 
Belgians  out  of  the  country. 

A  month  later  he  got  word  that  Chipepela 
was  advancing  to  make  war  on  him,  and  he 
hustled  over  to  me  again  begging  me  to  write 
to  the  Commandant  and  have  him  stop  Chi- 
pepela. I  wrote  this  letter  for  him,  and 
Kazembe  was  so  grateful  that  he  brought  me 
a  goat  and  some  fowls  as  a  payment,  but  I 
refused  to  accept  them  under  the  circum- 
stances. 

The  reader  may  ask  why  the  Government 
should  demand  taxes  when  there  was  a  famine. 
Because  both  the  Government  and  ourselves 
were  wanting  laborers  and  carriers,  and  were 
willing  to  pay  for  them.  The  men  could  have 
had  plenty  to  eat  while  working,  earning 
enough  to  feed  their  families  and  pay  their 
taxes,  but  they  would  rather  sit  in  their  vil- 
lages or  move  to  remote  places  than  do  any- 
thing of  the  kind.  They  would  rather  starve 
in  idleness  than  work  and  have  plenty.  This 
is  very  unlike  the  average  African,  who  is 
willing  to  work  if  he  is  paid  and  gets  plenty 
to  eat. 

On  December  23  two  messengers  arrived  with 
a  basket  of  fowls  as  a  present  from  Mwata 
Yamvo,  wrho  they  said  was  at  Kafakumba.  He 


216          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

had  hoped  to  get  as  far  as  our  station,  but  was 
not  able  to  do  so.  He  sent  imperative  word 
for  Kazembe  to  come  there  and  bring  his 
tribute.  I  told  Kazembe  that  I  was  going  up 
in  four  days  and  he  had  better  go  with  me.  He 
held  up  his  hands  saying  that  he  could  never 
get  ready  in  that  time. 

"Yes,  you  can,"  emphatically  broke  in  his 
head  wife  in  disgust.  So  he  said  he  would. 
He  needed  protection  through  some  of  that 
country,  and  I  was  ready  to  give  it  to  him. 
But  at  the  last  minute  he  found  some  excuse 
for  not  going,  and  again  stayed  at  home  and 
devoured  the  tribute  prepared  for  Mwata 
Yamvo. 

Mrs.  Springer  and  I  pushed  on  as  hard  as 
we  could,  but  on  reaching  Kafakumba  New 
Year's  Day,  found  to  our  regret  that  Mwata 
Yamvo  had  left  a  few  days  previously.  Had 
we  but  known  it,  he  had  stopped  there  about 
six  weeks,  during  which  time  most  of  the  chiefs 
had  been  sent  for,  and  the  Government  had 
made  it  very  clear  to  them  that  Mwata  Yamvo 
was  still  their  great  Chief,  and  that  his  word 
to  them  was  law;  moreover,  that  all  domestic 
slavery  must  cease. 

With  the  opening  of  1913,  after  our  trip  to 
Kafakumba,  events  began  to  shape  themselves 


THE  EXODUS  FROM  LUKOSHI         217 

for  our  departure  to  build  the  two  permanent 
stations  on  which  we  had  decided. 

It  was  agreed  that  Mr.  Heinkel  should  go 
up  to  Mwrata  Yamvo  and  build  a  house  there, 
and  then  in  October  come  down  to  Kambove. 
We  were  fully  expecting  that  the  new  mission- 
ary for  that  station  would  be  leaving  America 
in  March,  and  be  at  Kambove  in  April  or  May. 
So  we  wanted  that  he  should  have  a  house  in 
which  to  live  as  soon  as  possible.  But  in  any 
case  it  would  be  a  great  help  to  a  new  man  to 
have  some  one  who  understood  the  methods 
of  building  in  Africa  on  the  spot  to  look  after 
the  job.  Accordingly  an  application  was  sent 
to  Commandant  Gosme  asking  for  permission 
to  settle  and  build  at  Mwata  Yamvo's  town, 
and  the  permission  was  granted. 

On  January  28,  Kayeka  Mutembo  arrived 
from  Angola  with  his  party  of  fifteen,  includ- 
ing the  children.  It  was  now  two  years  since 
we  had  seen  Kayeka  at  Kalulua  as  related  in 
the  opening  chapter. 

His  party  had  had  a  rough  time  of  it  indeed. 
They  found  the  Bachokwe  country  devastated 
by  war  and  its  ensuing  famine.  A  slave  could 
easily  be  bought  in  many  of  the  villages  for 
a  dish  of  meal.  This  brave  little  party  strug- 
gling through  to  their  own  country  had  to  pay 


218          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

as  high  as  eight  yards  of  calico  for  a  plate  of 
meal.  This  they  made  into  thin  gruel,  and  the 
whole  family  of  six  of  them  had  to  make  that 
do  for  one  day's  rations.  No  wonder  they  got 
sick!  The  wonder  is  that  they  ever  lived  to 
wade  through  those  flooded  swamps  and  after 
months  of  fasting  and  fever  to  reach  our 
station. 

As  children  in  the  wayside  villages  were 
being  sold  for  a  mere  handful  of  food,  two  of 
Kayeka's  carriers,  themselves  ex-slaves  return- 
ing to  their  native  land  in  the  Luba  country, 
bought  a  small  lad  to  help  them  carry  their 
loads.  His  name  was  Nganiba,  and  when  he 
arrived  at  Lukoshi  he  was  a  mere  skeleton,  and 
such  had  been  his  sufferings  that  for  a  year 
or  two  we  feared  that  he  had  been  embittered 
for  life.  As  soon  as  I  learned  that  he  was  a 
slave  I  told  him  that  he  was  now  free,  and 
stood  by  him  in  the  row  that  his  owners  made 
over  his  freedom.  Ngamba  has  now  been 
nearly  three  years  in  the  Fox  Bible  Training 
School  and  is  an  earnest  Christian.  He  is 
gradually  outgrowing  the  effects  of  those 
months  of  untold  suffering  and  gives  much 
promise  for  the  future. 

All  the  way  along  the  trail,  Kayeka  had  held 
services  and  preached  in  nearly  every  village. 


RACHEL  SALA 

NASALA  MOSES  KAYEKA  ESTHER 

Fox  BIBLE  TRAINING  SCHOOL,  LUKOSHI,  1913 


THE  EXODUS  FROM  LUKOSHI         219 

His  arrival  at  LukosM  created  quite  a  stir. 
The  present  Kazembe  was  an  uncle  or  some 
such  near  relative.  The  native  African  does 
not  reckon  all  his  relationships  as  we  do,  and 
so  it  is  often  difficult  for  the  occidental  to  com- 
prehend them. 

Kayeka  found  an  own  sister  living  ten  miles 
away.  To  whomsoever  he  spoke  and  wherever 
he  went,  he  bore  a  mighty  testimony  for 
Christ.  He  had  to  live  in  a  simple,  hastily 
constructed  shack  for  those  two  months  at 
Lukoshi,  but  what  a  contrast  there  was  be- 
tween his  own  sweet,  happy  family  life  and  the 
lives  of  the  heathen  round  about! 

,We  missionaries  had  testified  continually  to 
the  power  of  God  in  our  own  lives,  testified  by 
life  as  well  as  word,  and  so  had  the  boys  of 
our  school.  But  we  belonged  to  another  race 
and  the  boys  to  other  tribes.  Here  was  a  man 
of  their  own  tribe,  born  in  that  very  Lukoshi 
valley,  who  exemplified  in  a  conspicuous  man- 
ner in  his  own  gracious  personality  and  in  his 
beautiful  family  life,  the  great  blessings  of  the 
Gospel.  Thus  for  the  two  months  that  we 
remained  at  Lukoshi  he  was  constantly  en- 
gaged in  study,  teaching,  and  evangelizing. 

Soon  after  his  arrival,  Kayeka  came  to  me 
with  the  same  request  that  he  had  made  at  the 


220  PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

time  of  his  first  visit  two  years  previously, 
namely,  that  Ms  three  girls  should  be  enabled 
to  get  a  good  education.  He  was  very  keen 
to  have  them  placed  in  a  girls'  boarding  school 
where  they  would  be  under  the  constant  care 
of  some  devoted  Christian  woman  and  be  away 
from  the  contamination  of  the  heathen  village 
life. 

He  was  so  dead  in  earnest  over  the  matter, 
which  I  knew  was  one  of  vital  importance,  that 
I  had  not  the  heart  to  tell  him  that  I  feared 
that  it  might  be  years  before  such  a  school 
would  be  a  reality  in  the  Lunda  country.  We 
realized  so  well  that  it  was  n,ot  Kayeka's  girls 
alone  who  needed  such  a  school,  but  all  the 
other  girls  of  these  Christian  parents,  not  to 
mention  the  hundreds  of  girls  now  in  heathen 
towns.  God  grant  that  the  day  may  not  be 
far  distant  when  there  shall  be  such  a  refuge 
for  the  little  Lunda  girls. 

As  Kayeka  had  brought  in  some  carriers 
who  wanted  work,  we  decided  to  use  them. 
We  packed  one  steamer  trunk  and  sent  it  east 
to  Chimbunji,  and  then  began  to  make  up  and 
send  loads  to  Kimpuki.  From  there  we  were 
certain  that  we  could  get  other  carriers.  This 
section  was  the  worst  with  which  to  deal. 

We  were  still  planning  to  leave  in  May,  but 


THE  EXODUS  FROM  LUKOSHI         221 

as  the  rains  were  so  light  and  the  river  had 
hardly  risen  at  all,  we  began  to  think  we  might 
leave  in  April.  We  were  having  considerable 
trouble  wTith  Kazembe  over  slaves.  One  of 
them  named  Chosa  came  to  us  and  said  that 
he  wanted  to  remain.  Kazembe  vowed  that 
his  wife  gave  birth  to  the  lad,  and  she  swore 
to  the  same  thing.  At  last  they  admitted  that 
Chosa  told  a  true  story  when  he  said  that  he 
had  been  paid  to  her  for  her  son  who  had  been 
killed  in  an  expedition  undertaken  by  Chosa's 
people  in  which  the  son  had  joined. 

So  we  told  Kazembe  plainly  that  he  could 
not  longer  hold  the  boy  as  a  slave.  Chosa  had 
come  to  us  and  asked  us  to  help  him  get  his 
freedom,  and  the  "Bula  Matadi"  had  sent 
word  to  all  the  chiefs  that  slavery  must  be 
abolished.  So  he  would  have  to  let  the  lad  go. 

He  was  in  a  great  rage  at  us.  The  fact  is 
that  most  of  the  people  in  his  village  were 
slaves,  and  he  was  afraid  that  they  would  all 
leave  him.  Many  of  them  came  to  us  asking 
our  help  to  free  them.  We  were  willing  to 
take  them  to  the  Government,  but  they  held 
back  in  fear.  They  knew  the  Government 
would  proclaim  them  free,  but  who  was  to  save 
them  from  the  deadly  bullet  on  their  return? 
We  had  to  guard  Chosa  until  he  was  well 


222          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

out  of  that  section  of  country  on  his  way  to 
Mwata  Yamvo's  with  Mr.  Heinkel. 

The  girls  suddenly  ceased  attending  school, 
and  we  learned  that  Kazembe  had  given  orders 
that  no  more  girls  were  to  attend  school.  Our 
boys  said  that  the  most  of  the  girls  were  slaves, 
and  it  was  feared  that  they,  too,  would  want 
their  freedom.  When  Kazembe  had  finished 
sitting  on  the  case  of  Chiwahe's  father,  he  had 
required  one  of  the  little  girls  in  payment. 
She  was  about  twelve  years  old,  and  in  another 
two  years  would  become  a  part  of  Kazembe's 
harem. 

By  the  middle  of  March  we  had  sent  nearly 
fifty  loads  on  to  Kiinpuki,  for  our  plan  was 
to  send  everything  on  to  Mwata  Yamvo's  that 
was  not  strictly  personal. 

We  had  been  trying  in  vain  to  get  carriers 
from  Kazembe  and  then  sent  to  the  Govern- 
ment, but  they  could  not  even  get  the  carriers 
they  needed  for  themselves.  One  day,  about 
the  middle  of  March,  I  sent  James  to  a  group 
of  villages  a  few  days'  journey  to  the  north- 
west. I  had  never  visited  them  personally, 
but  had  sent  the  boys  there  on  evangelistic 
tours.  While  these  were  in  Kazembe's  juris- 
diction, they  had  little  to  do  with  him.  I  told 
James  to  tell  the  village  chiefs  that  I  wanted 


THE  EXODUS  FROM  LUKOSHI         223 

thirty  men  in  two  weeks'  time  to  go  with  us 
to  Kambove. 

He  was  to  return  by  Monday  noon  without 
fail  and  report;  but  he  did  not  appear.  Day 
after  day  passed  until  Thursday,  and  no  sight 
of  Jim.  Thursday  noon  as  we  sat  down  to 
lunch  we  heard  a  great  shout  from  the  boys, 
and  looking  out  saw  James  swinging  into  the 
yard  with  satisfaction  written  all  over  him 
and  expressed  in  every  step,  followed  by 
twenty-nine  carriers.  He  had  started  with 
thirty,  but  one  had  turned  back  that  morning. 

"You  see,"  he  explained  in  answer  to  my 
question  as  to  why  he  brought  the  men  now, 
"they  were  willing  to  come  and  so  I  bring  them 
before  they  change  their  minds." 

"Give  them  something  to  eat,"  I  said,  and 
then  took  a  long  breath.  Mrs.  Springer  and 
I  exchanged  a  long  look  and  then  she  ex- 
claimed, "This  is  nothing  short  of  a  miracle !" 
and  I  echoed,  "It  certainly  is  a  miracle !"  Had 
these  men  dropped  from  the  sky  itself  it  would 
not  have  seemed  more  of  a  miracle. 

Then  we  started  packing,  working  as  in  a 
dream,  but  working  hard  withal  until  late  that 
night,  and  at  ten  o'clock  the  next  morning 
crossed  the  east  bridge  of  the  Lukoshi  for  the 
last  time.  It  was  the  26th  of  March  and  just 


224          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

a  year  previously  the  river  was  seven  feet 
higher  at  that  crossing  than  to-day.  The  river 
now  was  not  much  over  its  low  water  mark. 
If  it  had  been  our  leaving  now  would  have 
been  impossible.  We  felt  that  this  also  was 
a  part  of  the  Divine  plan. 

A  few  days  later  Mr.  Heinkel  started  the 
ex-slaves  off  with  Kayeka  at  their  head,  and 
then  he  followed,  overtaking  them  at  Kafa- 
kumba,  where  they  had  to  be  registered  and 
given  passes  by  the  Government. 

He  was  greatly  indebted  to  the  Kassai  Co. 
at  Kimpuki  for  carriers,  and  he  was  enabled 
to  take  the  short  route  via  Katola,  reaching 
Mwata  Yamvo's  the  latter  part  of  May.  Here 
he  found  Monsieur  Gamier,  who  gave  him 
much  valuable  assistance.  Unfortunately  his 
last  few  days  on  the  trail  were  marked  by  un- 
seasonable and  heavy  rains  whereby  he  was 
drenched  and  caught  a  severe  cold,  bringing 
on  a  relapse  of  a  pulmonary  affection  which 
he  had  had  in  the  United  States.  Fortunately 
a  government  physician,  Dr.  Trolley,  passed 
through  at  that  time  and  gave  him  medicine, 
which  greatly  relieved  him. 


CHAPTER  XVII 
KAMBOVE 

DIVINE  PROVIDENCE  does  not  altogether 
eliminate  the  operations  of  human  weakness. 
These  carriers  of  ours  had  never  been  over 
this  route  before,  and  it  is  doubtful  if  they 
had  even  been  two  hundred  miles  from  home 
in  any  direction.  Kambove,  two  hundred  and 
fifty  miles  distant,  seemed  to  them  as  far  away 
as  Africa  does  to  the  average  American, 
namely,  quite  out  of  the  world.  So  it  was  not 
surprising  that  they  became  alarmed  when 
they  saw  that  the  villages  along  the  path  were 
all  deserted.  Where  we  had  found  flourishing 
gardens  eighteen  months  before,  there  was 
now  only  the  deepest  jungle  of  grass  and 
weeds,  a  jungle  so  dense  that  at  times  the 
carriers  could  keep  from  getting  lost  from  one 
another  only  by  constant  coo-hooing  back  and 
forth. 

Late  in  the  afternoon  of  the  third  day  nine 
of  them  decided  that  this  journey  was  too 
much  for  them  and,  dropping  their  loads,  they 

225 


226          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

bolted.  James,  whose  duty  it  was  to  come  up 
at  the  rear  to  see  that  all  the  carriers  reached 
camp  safely  each  night,  happened  to  learn  that 
they  were  bolting  and  were  running  around 
him  through  the  forest.  Without  waiting  to 
see  me,  he  started  in  pursuit.  He  went  back 
to  their  villages  and  secured  other  carriers  to 
take  their  places.  The  morning  after  their 
desertion  I  was  obliged  to  leave  six  loads  by 
the  path  on  hastily  constructed  racks,  and  he 
picked  these  up  as  he  came  back  a  week  later 
with  the  men.  The  rain  and  white  ants  had 
not  improved  the  contents  of  the  boxes,  but 
nothing  of  value  was  really  destroyed. 

Eighteen  of  these  carriers  went  right 
through  with  us  to  Kambove,  but  to  prevent 
their  bolting  also  involved  a  constant  watch- 
ing of  them  night  and  day.  We  hired  other 
carriers  at  different  places  along  the  way,  but 
these  deserted.  So,  what  with  heavy  rains 
through  which  we  sometimes  had  to  walk  all 
day,  Mrs.  Springer  and  myself,  both  drenched 
to  the  skin,  with  insufficient  food,  bad  trails 
through  the  jungle,  and  the  anxiety  about  our 
men,  we  were  thankful  enough  to  reach  Kam- 
bove after  twenty-one  days  on  the  trail. 

It  is  gratifying  to  be  able  to  add  that  these 
eighteen  men,  who  had  to  be  at  times  almost 


KAMBOVE  227 

forced  to  complete  the  journey,  came  and 
thanked  me  heartily  for  compelling  them  to 
fulfill  their  contract  and  thus  have  the  oppor- 
tunity of  seeing  all  the  wonders  (to  them)  of 
Kambove,  though  the  rails  had  not  reached 
there  as  yet,  although  the  formation  was  com- 
plete. I  went  to  the  trouble  of  taking  the  men 
to  the  rail  head  ten  miles  away  and  they  saw 
the  trucks  on  the  rails  and  heard  the  engine 
as  it  puffed  off  just  a  few  minutes  before  we 
arrived. 

On  the  day  of  our  arrival  at  Kambove,  as 
we  climbed  the  long  steep  hill  to  the  mining 
camp  (for  there  was  no  town  at  that  time  nor 
was  the  site  for  the  new  town  yet  chosen),  the 
first  house  we  came  to  was  empty,  so  Mrs. 
Springer  and  the  carriers  sat  down  while  I 
spent  an  hour  hunting  up  the  manager  of  the 
mine,  M.  Bertrand,  who  very  kindly  put  this 
same  house  at  our  disposal  for  as  long  a  time 
as  we  needed  it. 

At  once  I  set  out  to  discover  a  suitable  loca- 
tion for  the  Mission.  I  consulted  maps  of  the 
mining  reserves,  interviewed  officials,  and  ex- 
plored in  many  directions,  but  after  three 
weeks  we  seemed  as  far  away  from  a  site  as 
ever. 

I  had  had  in  my  mind's  eye  a  mental  pic- 


228          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

ture  of  what  the  site  was  to  be.  One  afternoon 
as  I  climbed  one  of  the  many  hills  about  Kam- 
bove,  I  saw  another  hill  some  distance  away 
and  was  instantly  impressed  that  it  was  the 
hill  for  our  Mission.  Late  that  afternoon  I 
took  two  boys  and  we  reached  it  after  much 
difficulty,  owing  to  the  steep  ravines  which 
we  had  to  cross  from  the  side  from  which  we 
approached  it.  The  next  day  I  took  Mrs. 
Springer  there,  approaching  from  another 
side,  which  again  meant  the  crossing  of  two 
other  very  steep  ravines.  She,  too,  was  satis- 
fied that  it  was  the  spot  for  us.  When  depart- 
ing after  our  inspection  of  the  site  we  saw  a 
faint  path  made  by  natives  who  had  been  there 
cutting  trees,  and  following  this  path  we  found 
that  it  led  us  along  a  level  ridge  right  to  the 
railroad  formation  at  the  point  later  selected 
as  the  site  for  the  depot,  so  that  our  Mission 
buildings  are  now  slightly  over  a  half  mile 
from  the  railroad  depot.  From  our  buildings 
to  the  depot  is  an  excellent  bicycle  path  on 
our  own  grounds  right  to  the  railroad.  The 
point  I  would  emphasize  is  that  we  were  led 
to  choose  this  site  before  we  knew  of  its  future 
nearness  and  access  to  the  railroad  station, 
and  before  the  town  site  was  fixed  upon.  The 
town  itself  was  later  laid  out  beginning  from 


KAMBOVE  ,  229 

the  station  on  the  other  side  of  the  tracks  from 
us  and  extending  in  the  opposite  direction  to 
the  northwest. 

On  May  16  I  made  my  initial  formal  appli- 
cation for  the  concession  of  land  we  required 
— a  tract  of  about  two  hundred  acres.  The 
Commissaire  thought  that  it  would  probably 
be  some  months  before  we  could  get  permission 
even  to  build,  as  the  town  site  had  not  yet  been 
fixed.  He  communicated  with  the  head  offices 
at  Elisabethville,  and  receiving  a  prompt  reply 
told  me  that  we  could  enter  upon  the  conces- 
sion at  once  and  put  up  inexpensive  buildings 
pending  further  negotiations.  So  I  began  a 
simple  pole  structure  thatched  with  grass  at 
first,  and  also  walled  with  grass.  We  moved 
over  on  May  21,  before  the  roof  was  finished, 
and  with  our  loads  around  us  in  the  primitive 
forest  began  the  building  of  Kambove  Station, 
mostly  from  the  materials  at  hand. 

A  few  days  later  as  I  came  out  on  the  rail- 
road formation  at  the  foot  of  our  path,  I 
encountered  a  party  of  officials  hastily  making 
their  way  down  to  the  rail  head,  and  among 
them  I  recognized  Vice-Governor  General 
Wangermee.  He  remembered  me  from  our 
visit  to  Elisabethville  two  years  previously.  I 
spoke  of  our  desire  to  receive  definite  word  in 


230          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

reply  to  our  application  for  this  site  as  soon 
as  possible,  and  lie  told  me  that  he  was  quite 
sure  that  they  would  be  able  to  grant  the 
application,  though  it  would  have  to  go 
through  the  usual  formalities.  In  commenting 
on  other  correspondence  between  us,  he  ex- 
pressed great  gratification  on  the  part  of  the 
Government  at  the  return  of  the  ex-slaves  from 
Angola,  natives  of  the  Belgian  Congo,  which 
was  being  effected  by  our  presence  in  the 
Lunda  country,  and  which,  as  a  result  of 
Kayeka's  return  to  his  own  country,  was  being 
greatly  encouraged  and  increased. 

Kambove  was  now  undergoing  a  rapid  trans- 
formation. On  our  arrival  the  old  mining 
camp  consisted  of  a  number  of  mud  and  pole 
houses,  one  general  trading  store,  two  Kaffir 
truck  stores,  one  canteen — the  "National 
Cafe" — a  butcher  shop,  and  a  bicycle  shop. 
These  merchants  had  a  very  small  stock  of 
goods,  as  the  cost  of  transportation  from  rail 
head  was  exorbitant,  and  it  was  now  a  matter 
of  but  a  few  weeks  when  the  rails  should  reach 
Kambove.  The  prices  fairly  staggered  us,  the 
cost  being  about  as  high  on  provisions,  etc., 
as  they  had  been  at  Lukoshi,  but  new  stores 
were  opening  up  every  day,  mostly  for  trade 
with  the  natives.  At  a  place  called  The  Tri- 


KAMBOVE  ,  231 

angle,  the  junction  of  the  stub  line  with  the 
main  line,  there  were  about  a  dozen  canteens, 
or  bars,  carrying  on  their  nefarious  business 
among  the  two  hundred  white  men  who  were 
employed  in  various  ways  along  railroad  con- 
struction. 

In  building  the  Mission  Station,  one  of  the 
greatest  difficulties  at  first  was  in  securing 
tools  with  which  to  work,  the  stores  having 
practically  none  in  stock.  However,  I  obtained 
the  few  necessary  tools  from  various  sources. 
A  few  were  given  to  me  by  Mr.  Grey,  who  was 
head  carpenter  on  the  railroad  construction, 
and  gradually  our  equipment  began  to  corre- 
spond with  our  needs. 

The  very  first  week  of  our  stay  in  Kam- 
bove  the  news  spread  among  the  natives  that 
a  missionary  had  arrived,  and  a  number  of 
boys  hailed  me  on  the  path  and  asked  if  I  had 
any  books  for  sale.  One  boy  ordered  a  Sankey 
hymn  book  on  the  next  day  after  our  arrival. 
We  had  a  few  of  our  Natural  English  Primers, 
worked  out  at  Kansanshi,  Kalalua,  and  Luko- 
shi,  and  printed  on  our  Methodist  Mission 
Press  at  Old  Umtali.  These  went  like  hot 
cakes.  Orders  were  given  me  for  books  in 
several  native  languages  as  well  as  in  English, 
and  no  small  part  of  my  correspondence  for 


232          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

months  to  come  was  concerning  the  native 
literature  wanted  from  a  half  dozen  sections 
of  Africa  where  months  were  required  to  get 
an  answer  in  return.  Thus  was  inaugurated 
the  Katanga  Book  Store — the  Methodist  Book 
Concern  of  Central  Africa.  Camps  of  con- 
tractors working  on  the  mine  and  the  railroad, 
in  the  town,  and  as  forwarding  agents  to  dis- 
tant points,  were  to  be  found  everywhere. 
Several  thousand  recruited  natives  from  all 
parts  of  Central  Africa  were  in  the  ever-shift- 
ing population.  I  began  holding  regular  serv- 
ices in  as  many  of  the  camps  as  I  could  reach, 
and  before  long  there  were  a  number  of  camps 
where  we  could  hold  afternoon  schools  as  well. 
Generally,  I  had  at  least  eleven  services  each 
Sunday,  and  many  tribes  were  represented  in 
our  audiences.  On  one  Sunday  I  listed  thirty- 
five  tribes  as  represented  in  the  eleven  services 
held  that  day.  Fortunately  I  had  boys  from 
several  tribes  in  the  school,  so  could  use  them 
as  interpreters  and  as  teachers  for  the  camp 
schools,  and  through  them  reach  most  of  the 
four  or  five  thousand  natives  gathered  about 
Kambove  at  that  time. 

On  June  6  the  rails  were  laid  into  Kambove. 
Owing  to  the  very  hilly  nature  of  the  country 
for  miles  about  Kambove,  various  engineers 


ON  JUNE  6,  1913,  THE  RAILS  WERE  LAID  INTO  KAMBOVE 
KAMBOVE  STATION,  JUST  AFTER  DEPARTURE  OF  TRAIN 


KAMBOVE  233 

had  declared  that  it  would  be  impracticable 
to  bring  the  main  line  of  the  railroad  near 
to  the  mine.  They  proposed  that  the  main 
line  pass  at  a  distance  of  about  ten  miles  to 
the  east,  and  that  a  branch  be  run  to  the  mine 
as  is  done  in  Elisabeth ville  in  the  case  of  the 
Star  of  the  Congo  Mine.  But  some  higher 
powers  insisted  that  the  road  actually  come 
into  or  very  near  to  Kambove  and  proceed 
from  there  north,  and  at  last  a  way  was  found 
to  do  this.  The  stub  from  the  main  line  is 
three  miles  long,  the  Kambove  station  being 
on  the  stub,  one  half  mile  from  the  junction. 
Memorable  to  us  will  ever  be  the  first  sound 
of  the  locomotive  as  it  came  puffing  along  at 
the  rail  head  just  a  few  miles  distant  over 
the  ridge.  It  was  sweetest  music  to  us  after 
three  years  in  the  wilderness,  and  up  to  the 
time  of  our  departure  it  never  ceased  to  be  a 
'great  pleasure  to  us  to  go  down  to  the  station 
and  see  the  trains  come  and  go. 

On  one  of  my  first  trips  to  Kamatanda,  ten 
miles  from  Kambove,  I  passed  hundreds  of 
empty  iron  cement  casks.  I  began  to  consider 
how  they  might  be  used,  and  asked  permission 
to  gather  them  up.  As  they  had  been  thrown 
away,  there  was  no  objection,  and  I  set  a  gang 
of  my  boys  to  work  flattening  them  out  and 


234          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

bringing  them  in.  I  secured  enough,  eventu- 
ally, to  roof  three  buildings,  put  ceilings  in 
four  buildings,  and  do  several  odd  jobs  with 
them  besides.  Lumber  was  very  expensive,  so 
I  asked  the  boys  about  the  trees  on  our  place. 
They  pointed  out  some  hardwood,  ant-proof 
trees  of  at  least  four  varieties,  and  I  had  a 
saw-pit  dug.  I  had  never  seen  lumber  sawed 
in  a  pit,  and  had  only  a  general  idea  as  to 
how  it  was  done.  The  very  day  that  we  fin- 
ished the  saw-pit,  a  boy  came  asking  for  work. 
I  said  that  I  did  not  want  any  more  boys 
(didn't  feel  that  I  could  afford  to  hire  more). 
He  sat  on  the  ground  a  while  and  then  pulled 
out  a  paper  and  handed  it  to  me.  It  was  a 
recommendation  of  him  as  a  saw-boy  from  a 
missionary  about  three  hundred  miles  away. 
I  employed  him  on  the  spot,  and  the  next  day 
he  and  another  boy  were  at  work  on  our  first 
log. 

In  this  way  I  obtained  the  very  best  and 
most  durable  timber  for  all  our  door  and 
window  frames,  joists,  etc.,  at  a  very  small 
cost.  Then  I  was  able  to  secure  twenty  boys 
for  about  the  cost  of  their  food  for  ten  days, 
and  I  put  them  to  carrying  water  to  make 
adobe  bricks  for  our  own  house  and  one  other. 
Here  Saul,  who  also  had  been  of  Kayeka's 


KAMBOVE  235 

party,  was  invaluable  to  me,  as  he  knew  all 
about  brick  making. 

I  fully  expected  to  do  all  the  masonry  and 
brick  laying  for  our  house  personally.  Just 
about  this,  time,  one  afternoon  the  boys  raised 
a  shout  of  "Kaluwashi."  As  narrated  in  the 
opening  chapter  he  came  to  Lukoshi  with 
Kayeka.  He  told  us  the  story  of  his  visit  to 
his  home  as  we  sat  about  the  fire  that  evening. 
Kaluwashi  had  left  us  in  February  and  it  was 
now  August.  He  said  he  wanted  to  remain 
with  me  for  a  couple  of  months  and  earn  some 
money  so  as  to  take  back  some  presents  to  his 
wife,  who  was  a  member  of  a  local  tribe  in 
Angola.  She  had  said  that  at  his  home  in  the 
interior  there  was  nothing  but  the  veldt  and 
savages,  and  he  wished  to  take  something  to 
her  to  prove  the  contrary.  He  had  brought 
an  own  brother  and  two  other  lads  with  him 
to  accompany  him  to  Angola  and  to  help  him 
in  bringing  in  his  family.  I  was  grateful  for 
the  services  of  the  other  three  and  Mbunda, 
but  hardly  knew  what  to  give  Kaluwashi  to 
do,  as  I  did  not  want  to  give  him  the  same 
rough  work  as  the  others.  He  simply  said 
that  he  was  willing  to  do  anything.  I  had 
just  begun  to  lay  a  retaining  wall  for  a 
veranda  on  the  small  residence  we  had  built 


236          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

for  Mrs.  Springer's  mother,  so  I  thought  I 
would  have  Kaluwashi  help  me.  I  at  once 
saw  that  he  seemed  to  know  just  how  to  do 
the  work,  so  I  left  him  alone  with  the  task. 
AVhen  I  came  back  I  saw  that  he  was  working 
all  right  and  following  the  lines  and  on  in- 
quiry I  learned  that  he  was  a  mason  by  trade. 
What  a  godsend  he  was ! 

He  told  me  he  wanted  to  lay  the  walls 
of  our  main  house,  after  which  he  would  go 
to  Bihe  to  bring  his  wife  and  family.  I  laid 
out  the  lines  for  the  foundations  of  our  main 
house  and  Mr.  Peter  Grey  very  kindly  came 
to  see  if  it  had  been  done  correctly.  Much 
to  my  satisfaction,  it  had.  These  skilled  me- 
chanics working  along  the  railroad  construc- 
tion and  in  the  mine  were  most  ready  to  give 
me  any  information  that  I  needed  or  any  help 
in  their  power  to  give.  This  was  my  first 
serious  building  operation,  and  that  meant  for 
me  a  few  problems  in  masonry,  carpentry,  and 
tinning,  and  they  helped  me  solve  them.  I 
particularly  remember  a  demonstration  which 
the  tinsmith  gave  me  in  his  camp  on  soldering 
the  guttering  for  the  house  by  showing  me 
how  he  soldered  three  joints  together  and  an 
elbow.  I  was  then  able  successfully  to  put 
the  guttering  on  the  entire  house. 


KAMBOVB  237 

I  had  all  I  could  do  and  more  to  look  after 
all  the  work.  I  had  to  keep  on  the  go  from 
one  part  of  the  station  to  the  other.  At  times 
I  would  have  as  many  as  five  different  build- 
ings under  construction  at  different  stages. 
First  the  boys  would  send  me  word  that  they 
had  finished  one  log  and  would  I  come  down 
and  mark  another.  Then  there  would  be  need 
of  a  door  or  window  frame  before  the  brick- 
laying could  proceed.  Next  I  would  need 
to  make  the  principals  and  put  the  roof  onto 
a  house,  then  hasten  off  to  see  that  the  picka- 
ninnies had  brought  in  their  stent  of  grass  and 
the  older  boys  of  poles.  Food  had  to  be 
rationed  out  twice  a  day,  and  after  quitting 
time  at  5.30,  there  was  the  daily  clinic  when 
all  the  sore  toes  had  to  be  tied  up,  wounds 
carefully  washed  and  bound  up  to  prevent  big 
ulcers,  medicine  given  for  headache,  stomach 
ache,  backache  and  fever,  and  all  the  other 
ailments  that  beset  a  large  crowd  of  natives. 

Therefore,  I  had  very  little  time  left  to  do 
any  office  work  on  accounts  or  correspondence, 
and  Mrs.  Springer  had  to  help  me  more  than 
usual  in  such  work. 

I  longed  unutterably  to  be  able  to  give  all 
my  time  and  that  of  my  older  boys  to  making 
the  most  of  the  evangelistic  opportunities 


238          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

among  the  blacks  and  whites  while  they  were 
concentrated  around  Kambove,  but  that  was 
impossible.  No  little  attention  was  given  to 
this  work,  but  the  building  was  the  command- 
ing consideration  at  this  time.  However,  it  was 
not  an  unimportant  lesson  to  the  natives  that 
I  was  not  afraid  to  work,  and  work  hard,  with 
my  hands  and  to  do  all  sorts  and  kinds  of 
work.  Among  the  natives  a  sort  of  caste  exists 
and  they  resent  being  put  to  several  kinds 
of  work  in  one  day.  On  several  occasions,  as 
these  little  objections  arose,  I  pointed  out  to 
them  that  in  a  single  day  I  was  preacher, 
teacher,  doctor,  nurse,  mason,  carpenter, 
tinner,  overseer,  bookkeeper,  judge,  and  peace- 
maker, and  what  not.  Such  objections  soon 
ceased. 

From  the  time  the  first  letters  began  to 
arrive  from  Mr.  Heinkel,  after  he  reached 
Mwata  Yamvo's,  we  were  greatly  concerned 
about  his  health.  We  were  greatly  disap- 
pointed in  the  delay  of  the  missionaries  for 
that  station.  When  Mr.  Heinkel  had  a  resi- 
dence, cook  house,  etc.,  built  of  adobe  brick 
ready  for  the  doctor  to  occupy,  he  wrote  me 
that  he  should  leave  there  in  October  and  sent 
in  his  resignation  from  the  Mission.  So  he 
left  Kayeka  in  sole  charge  and  arrived  at 


KAMBOVE  2CD 

Kambove  on  November  11.  He  had  been  very 
ill  on  the  way  down,  but  was  much  better  on 
his  arrival.  He  remained  and  helped  me  with 
the  building  until  February,  when  he  left  for 
the  United  States.  He  had  been  with  us  for 
three  and  a  half  years,  and  had  been  a  great 
help  to  us  during  that  pioneering  stage.  We 
regretted  that  his  condition  did  not  warrant 
his  staying  out  his  five  years,  but  we  realized 
the  wisdom  of  his  return  at  that  time.  The 
adverse  pioneer  conditions  of  his  work  had 
brought  on  a  trouble  that  had  affected  him  in 
America.  His  service  through  these  years  had 
contributed  largely  and  essentially  to  the 
establishing  of  the  Congo  Mission. 

By  the  end  of  that  year,  1913,  our  buildings 
were  well  advanced  and  we  had  had  a  month 
of  school. 

On  Christmas  we  had  a  great  celebration, 
and  nearly  one  hundred  native  young  men, 
many  of  them  former  pupils  of  a  dozen  mis- 
sions near  and  far,  mostly  in  the  territory  to 
the  east  of  us,  sat  down  to  the  dinner  served 
in  the  chapel  and  schoolroom.  What  joy  and 
rejoicing  there  was  among  them,  that  at  last 
along  the  railroad  construction  a  Mission  had 
been  established  to  be  a  sort  of  home  for  them 
during  their  stay  while  working  in  this  sec- 


240          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

tion.  Hymns  in  several  languages  as  well  as 
in  English  were  heartily  sung,  and  we  rejoiced 
greatly  at  the  privilege  of  making  a  Christian 
celebration  of  Christmas  possible  in  contrast 
to  the  drunken  orgies  about  the  canteens  and 
bars,  and  in  many  of  the  camps  which  had 
characterized  the  railroad  and  its  construction 
in  its  twenty-five  hundred  miles  from  Cape 
Town. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 
A  NEW  EPOCH 

As  in  these  months  we  undertook  the  work 
of  building  permanent  stations,  we  grasped  as 
never  before  the  significance  of  Livingstone's 
words:  "The  end  of  the  geographical  feat  is 
the  beginning  of  the  enterprise."  The  value 
to  the  Kingdom  of  Livingstone's  heroic  and 
persistent  explorations  lies  in  the  fact  that 
he  broke  the  paths  for,  and  inspired  the  estab- 
lishing of  six  (if  not  more  nearly  a  dozen) 
missions  in  various  parts  of  Central  Africa. 
These  are  not  merely  single  stations,  but  enter- 
prises each  backed  by  large  constituencies  at 
home,  and  that  in  their  occupation  cover  large 
areas,  each  with  many  separate  stations. 

Our  exploration  so  far  held  in  itself  no 
ultimate  significance;  the  real  enterprise  lay 
before  us;  our  three  years,  together  with  the 
earlier  trip  through  this  section,  had  served 
to  reveal  to  us  the  strategic  centers  for  occu- 
pation in  this  field.  In  building  at  Mwata 
Yamvo's  and  at  Kambove  we  were  entering 

241 


242          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

upon  the  second  and  truly  significant  epoch — 
that  of  the  great  missionary  enterprise  itself, 
namely,  the  bringing  in,  the  permanent  estab- 
lishing, and  the  loosening  of  those  manifold 
agencies  of  the  Gospel  in  evangelization,  edu- 
cation, social  ministry,  and  service,  and  such 
an  inclusive  provision  for  the  total  needs  of 
this  backward  race  as  should  lead  the  Church 
to  the  full  accomplishment  of  her  mission. 

Fundamentally  necessary  in  this  program 
are  the  lives  of  capable,  devoted  men  and 
women,  and  the  "New  Epoch"  was  notably 
marked  in  the  early  part  of  1914  by  the  acces- 
sion of  such  workers. 

First  to  arrive  was  Mrs.  J.  E.  Miller,  Mrs. 
Springer's  mother,  who  traveled  out  to  Africa 
entirely  at  her  own  expense,  and  on  March  7 
reached  Kambove  to  spend  the  year  with  us. 
She  entered  at  once  heartily  into  the  work, 
teaching  in  night  and  forenoon  schools,  and 
occasionally  having  afternoon  classes  for  girls 
and  women.  She  attended  practically  all  the 
meetings  on  the  station,  contributing  no  small 
part  to  their  value  and  success,  and  was  in 
many  respects  a  volunteer  missionary.  We 
had  arranged  for  her  to  come  in  the  company 
of  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Piper,  but  after  one  week  in 
England  she  decided  she  had  had  enough  of 


A  NEW  EPOCH  243 

London  rain  and,  with  characteristic  inde- 
pendence, had  come  on  alone  rather  than  wait 
another  week.  She  had  a  delightful  trip,  and 
although  the  eight  days'  journey  by  rail  from 
Cape  Town  was  rather  taxing,  arrived  in  good 
health  and  in  splendid  spirits. 

Just  a  week  later  came  Dr.  and  Mrs.  A.  L. 
Piper,  both  of  New  York  State,  who  were  to 
be  supported  by  the  Detroit  Epworth  Leagues. 
The  doctor  had  received  his  appointment  early 
in  the  year  preceding,  and  we  had  fully  ex- 
pected him  in  May,  but  he  very  wisely  con- 
cluded that  he  would  be  much  better  off  mar- 
ried than  single,  and,  seeing  a  ray  of  hope, 
followed  it  up,  and  finally  succeeded  in  bring- 
ing with  him  the  woman  of  his  choice,  namely, 
Miss  Maud  Garrett,  who  for  six  years  had 
been  a  deaconess  in  New  York  City,  and, 
although  the  waiting  had  been  trying,  yet 
when  we  saw  Mrs.  Piper,  we  knew  that  it  had 
been  well  worth  while. 

We  had  been  very  much  concerned  about 
having  to  leave  the  new  station  at  Mwata 
Yamvo's  so  long  without  a  white  missionary, 
but  faithful  Kayeka  had  taken  such  good  care 
of  the  work,  carrying  on  both  day  schools  and 
evangelistic  services,  that  it  had  not  suffered, 
but  rather  had  gone  ahead,  so  that  the  Pipers 


244          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

had  more  than  their  hands  full  from  the  very 
day  they  reached  their  station.  It  was  neces- 
sary for  them  to  remain  at  Kambove  seven 
weeks  to  receive  and  repack  their  goods,  and, 
as  Mrs.  Springer  was  striving  hard  to  complete 
the  revision  of  the  translation  of  Mark,  Mrs. 
Piper  took  her  school  work  off  her  hands.  It 
was  a  great  help  to  me  also  to  be  relieved  of 
my  daily  clinic,  which  had  been  rather  heavy. 
During  the  rainy  season  I  had  as  many  as 
fourteen  boys  at  a  time  needing  medical  treat- 
ment of  one  kind  or  another. 

To  return  to  the  translation  of  the  Gospel  of 
Mark,  on  leaving  Lukoshi  I  had  told  Jacob 
(who  had  been  helping  me  on  the  translation) 
that  I  wanted  him  to  go  to  Mwata  Yamvo's 
with  Mr.  Heinkel,  and  besides  helping  in  the 
building,  to  spend  a  half  of  each  day  translat- 
ing Mark  into  the  Luunda.  He  did  so  and  when 
he  came  to  Kambove  brought  the  first  draft  of 
the  translation  with  him.  The  work  was  very 
crude,  naturally,  and  when  Mrs.  Springer 
began  to  type  it,  she  found  it  would  have  to 
be  revised.  Fortunately,  one  of  the  carriers 
wjio  came  down  with  Mr.  Heinkel  had  been 
too  ill  to  return  with  the  others,  so  that  after 
his  recovery  he  was  on  hand  for  consultation 
regarding  words  and  phrases.  Also,  we  had 


A  UBW  EPOCH  245 

brought  six  Lunda  boys  with  us  from  Lukoshi. 
Then  there  was  Chosa,  who  came  with  Mr. 
Heinkel.  All  of  these,  as  well  as  Bimbi,  the 
sick  carrier,  wished  to  go  with  the  Pipers  back 
to  the  Lunda  country,  so  it  was  necessary  for 
Mrs.  Springer  to  complete  the  work  on  the 
translation  before  all  of  the  Alunda  left. 
Jacob  had  already  gone  to  his  own  country, 
near  Bulawayo,  to  find  a  Christian  wife.  When 
Mrs.  Springer  had  completed  one  revision,  she 
felt  that  another  was  required  in  order  to 
make  this  initial  translation  into  the  Luunda 
as  perfect  as  possible. 

On  April  28  I  started  with  the  Pipers  to 
take  them  to  Eailhead,  and  a  little  farther  on 
their  way  to  their  far  distant  station — more 
than  four  hundred  miles  into  the  wilderness. 
The  Construction  Company  was  most  obliging 
in  giving  us  free  transportation  over  their 
rails — as  far  as  they  were  laid — so  that  night 
we  all  packed  into  one  tiny  compartment: 
Doctor,  Mrs.  Piper,  myself,  Melissa — James's 
wife — Lutenda,  the  pickaninny,  and  the  dog, 
"Kambove,"  besides  some  twelve  of  the  most 
important  loads.  Mrs.  Piper  wondered  at  the 
time,  and  the  Doctor  and  I  with  her,  what  her 
many  friends  in  comfortable,  elegant  New 
York  would  say  to  see  her  dumped  in  there  in 


246          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

that  6x6  compartment  with  two  men,  the  na- 
tive woman  and  lad,  the  dog  and  all;  but  she 
was  game  to  the  core.  Not  a  suggestion  of 
regret  came  to  her  mind  I  am  sure.  On  the 
other  hand,  she  seemed  to  enjoy  it  as  our  train 
rolled,  creaked,  bounced,  and  rolled  along  the 
unsettled  roadbed.  We  sang  the  grand  old 
hymns  of  faith,  repeated  Scripture  verses  and 
poetry,  and  talked  until  weariness  quieted  us 
down.  The  carriers  and  all  the  other  loads 
were  piled  on  top  of  the  already  heavily  loaded 
trucks  of  rails,  ties,  and  other  construction 
material.  There  was  no  chance  for  sleep  or 
for  much  rest  for  them,  as  they  needed  to  be 
awake  and  alert  to  avoid  falling  off.  There 
was  not  room  for  us  in  the  guard's  van  to 
make  up  beds  and  lie  down,  so  we  stowed  our- 
selves away  among  the  loads  and  the  dog  as 
comfortably  as  we  could  and  dozed  fitfully 
until  daybreak,  when  we  got  out  and  waded 
through  the  tall  wet  grass  five  miles  to  a  cara- 
vansary, where  we  had  breakfast.  We  then 
went  on  twelve  miles  further  and  I  spent  the 
night  with  them  in  order  to  show  them  how 
to  organize  a  caravan,  to  pitch  and  break 
camp,  and  to  get  their  loads  into  shape;  and 
then  the  next  morning,  right  after  prayers,  I 
turned  back  to  Kambove,  and  they  set  their 


MRS.  MILLER,  MR.  AND  MRS.  SPRINGER,  DR.  AND  MRS.  PIPER, 
MALISE,  JAMES,  AND  LUNDA  BOYS 

MISSION  HOUSE  AT  MUSUMBA  OR  MWATA  YAMVO'S 
MWATA  YAMVO  AND  A  FEW  OF  His  FAVORITE  WIVES 


A  N)Ew  EPOCH  247 

faces  toward  the  great  unknown,  feeling — so 
they  wrote  us — like  orphaned  children. 

They  had  to  go  by  the  longest  route  via 
Bukama,  as  the  direct  route  was  officially 
closed  on  account  of  sleeping  sickness.  They 
were  delayed  on  one  or  two  occasions  for  car- 
riers and  so  did  not  reach  Mwata  Yamvo  until 
June  22.  Word  of  their  approach  had  pre- 
ceded them  and  Kayeka  led  out  a  reception 
committee  of  three  hundred  people  from  the 
capital  to  welcome  them.  One  can  imagine 
this  crowd  of  people  as  they  advanced  singing 
over  and  over  the  few  Christian  hymns  which 
they  had  learned,  and  lining  the  path  on  both 
sides  so  as  to  let  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Piper  pass  be- 
tween them.  Near  the  house  had  been  raised 
a  triumphal  arch  draped  with  white  calico; 
here  they  halted  and  Kayeka  made  a  prayer 
and  an  address  of  welcome.  Then  Mwata 
Yamvo  came  out  in  his  mono-cycle  and  wel- 
comed them  formally  to  his  capital.  I  have 
never  heard  of  another  instance  where  mis- 
sionaries, coming  for  the  first  time  to  reside 
in  a  country,  have  had  so  unique  and  so  royal 
a  welcome. 

At  once  the  Doctor  set  the  workmen  to 
building  a  schoolhouse,  and  in  the  second 
month  after  their  arrival  Mrs.  Piper  began  a 


248          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

class  for  women  and  girls  out  under  the  trees. 
The  evangelistic  and  school  work  was  rapidly 
enlarged  and  these  new  missionaries  had  their 
hands  full  from  the  very  start. 

Mrs.  Piper  wrote  in  one  of  her  letters: 
"Since  our  arrival  here  many  kinds  of  labor 
have  been  hurried  along,  the  Doctor  superin- 
tending brick  making  and  building,  taking 
care  of  the  sick,  and  last — but  most  important 
— trying  to  teach  the  blind  eyes  to  see  the  King 
in  his  beauty.  Thus  far  much  of  my  time  has 
been  spent  in  the  care  and  arrangement  of  my 
home.  Five  weeks  ago  I  opened  a  school  for 
women  and  girls.  Some  of  these  are  elderly 
women  and  their  eagerness  to  learn  is  really 
pathetic.  Their  poor  hands  are  so  stiffened 
with  hard  work  that  it  seems  almost  impos- 
sible for  them  to  hold  a  pencil  and  form 
letters."  Six  months  after  their  arrival  Dr. 
Piper  wrote  to  Bishop  Hartzell:  "When  we 
left  Kambove  Mr.  Springer  nearly  emptied 
his  Mission  of  boys  to  give  us  those  who  would 
help  us  on  our  own  trip  up  here  and  in  the 
work  after  our  arrival.  Some  of  these  spoke 
English  quite  well  and  were  of  no  small  help 
to  us.  Later  a  number  of  people,  ex-slaves, 
arrived  from  the  neighborhood  of  the  mission 
of  the  Plymouth  Brethren  at  Kaleni  Hill, 


A  NEW  EPOCH  249 

Rhodesia.  Last  of  all,  another  group  of  forty 
or  so  arrived  from  the  mission  of  the  American 
Board  in  Angola.  A  large  percentage  of 
these  read  quite  well,  not  only  in  their  native 
tongue,  but  in  English  as  well.  Several  have 
for  years  been  teachers  and  evangelists.  These 
immigrants  are  mostly  ex-slaves  like  Kayeka, 
who  are  returning  to  their  native  land.  They 
are  a  great  help  to  me  in  evangelistic  work. 
At  present  we  hold  several  services  on  Sunday 
in  different  parts  of  Mwata  Yamvo's  town. 
We  send  several  native  preachers  out  to  some 
of  the  many  smaller  villages  round  about  that 
can  be  reached  in  a  day.  The  school  enroll- 
ment on  the  station  is  about  seventy-five.  The 
medical  work  is  limited  only  by  the  restricted 
amount  of  time  that  I  am  able  to  give  to  it. 
We  are  gradually  getting  the  building  done. 

"I  feel  that  this  work  in  Central  Africa  is 
deserving  of  rapid  development,  and  I  am  very 
anxious  that  our  present  plans  should  not  be 
detracted  from.  Already  we  are  receiving  re- 
quests from  outlying  villages  that  native 
teachers  be  stationed  in  them.  There  are 
several  other  men  in  our  mission  village  be- 
sides those  whom  we  are  now  employing,  who 
could  be  used  to  good  advantage  as  teachers 
and  evangelistic  workers,  and  every  depart- 


250          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

ment  of  the  work  is  ready  for  rapid  extension 
and  development  if  only  there  were  more  mis- 
sionaries here  and  more  funds  for  the  work; 
and  yet,  until  more  missionaries  come,  I  do 
not  feel  that  we  will  be  able  to  properly  super- 
vise a  larger  work."  We  particularly  com- 
mend to  the  reader  his  concluding  sentence: 
"Won't  you  remember  in  prayer  our  vast 
opportunities,  our  pressing  needs,  and  the 
unique  position  of  this  station?  While  wre 
have  been  here  but  a  few  months,  this  field  has 
all  the  characteristics  of  an  old  established 
work." 

.This  report  comes  from  the  very  town 
where,  while  Mr.  Heinkel  was  building  the 
house  only  a  year  previously,  two  little  slave 
children  were  buried  alive  with  the  corpse  of 
the  mother  of  Mwata  Yamvo  in  order  that  she 
might  have  slaves  to  wait  on  her  in  the  next 
world.  The  purpose  to  do  this  was  kept  very 
quiet,  but  our  boys  learned  of  it,  but  not  soon 
enough  to  prevent  the  horrible  deed  being 
done. 

Before  leaving  the  subject  of  the  Pipers,  we 
must  add  that  their  latest  arrival  is  a  baby 
girl — Ruth  Piper,  who  arrived  on  May  4,  1915. 
She  will  be  a  blessing  to  the  work  at  this  sta- 
tion from  her  early  days,  as  the  natives  are 


A  NEW  EPOCH  251 

very  fond  of  children.  Deputations  are  coming 
from  far  and  near  to  see  the  wonderful  white 
baby.  This  presents  to  the  parents  many  a 
golden  opportunity  to  give  the  gospel  message 
to  hundreds  who  would  not  otherwise  be 
accessible  to  it  for  some  time,  or  so  open  to 
receive  it.  When  Miss  Ruth  was  taken  to  see 
Mwata  Yamvo,  the  king  was  very  pleased  and 
in  honor  of  the  first  white  baby  to  be  born  in 
his  kingdom,  he  presented  her  with  a  bull  calf. 
What  a  fine  thing  it  would  be  if,  in  deciding 
on  her  life  work,  she  should  choose  to  be  a  mis- 
sionary to  the  people  among  whom  she  was 
born. 

The  week  after  the  Pipers'  departure  from 
Kambove,  we  opened  the  night  school  in  the 
little  Truex  Chapel  near  the  railroad,  and 
until  the  outbreak  of  the  war  had  a  crowd  in 
attendance.  Urgent  requests  for  such  a  school 
had  been  made  for  some  time,  but  this  was  the 
earliest  that  we  could  possibly  take  on  this 
additional  work.  Over  two  hundred  enrolled 
within  the  first  month,  and  the  average  attend- 
ance was  over  thirty.  Mother  Miller  rarely 
missed  a  night,  and  taught  with  all  the  eager- 
ness of  sixteen  instead  of  more  than  sixty. 
The  fragrance  and  blessing  of  her  influence 
will  long  abide  in  the  memory  of  the  pupils  of 


252          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

those  days,  and  the  story  of  how  "Mamma 
Miller,"  whose  head  was  crowned  with  silver, 
came  so  long  a  journey,  and  just  for  the  love 
she  had  for  the  Master  and  for  these  needy 
ones,  gave  her  best,  and  manifested  a  deep 
motherly  interest  in  them,  will  be  handed 
down  from  one  generation  of  boys  to  another. 

On  June  22  we  had  another  addition  to  our 
force  in  the  persons  of  Rev.  and  Mrs.  Roger  S. 
Guptill,  from  the  New  Hampshire  Conference. 
These  energetic  and  well-trained  young  people 
were  able  to  take  the  entire  charge  of  the  night 
school  and  of  the  Fox  Bible  Training  School 
from  the  first,  though  the  rest  of  us  continued 
to  teach  a  few  classes.  For  myself  I  had 
months  of  back  office  work,  besides  the  daily 
meed  of  duties,  to  fully  engage  most  of  my 
time.  The  work  was  going  along  so  nicely 
and  encouragingly,  when — like  a  thunder  clap 
from  a  clear  sky — the  war  cloud  burst  upon 
us,  as  well  as  upon  the  rest  of  the  world.  Mrs. 
Springer  and  I  had  just  returned  from  a  three 
weeks'  tour  along  the  Railroad  Construction 
to  the  North,  and  never  had  the  work  seemed 
more  promising.  We  had  sold  no  less  than  five 
hundred  francs  worth  of  books  to  the  natives 
on  that  trip,  besides  holding  services  and  talk- 
ing with  boys  who  were  thinking  of  coming  to 


A  NEW  EPOCH  253 

the  school.  The  financial  upheaval  and  chaos 
produced  by  the  war  meant  that  the  Railroad 
Construction  must  be  discontinued,  and  busi- 
ness throughout  the  whole  country  suffered 
greatly.  Native  troops  were  hurried  through 
to  Lake  Tanganyika,  and  all  unemployed  na- 
tives about  town  were  impressed  into  service 
as  carriers  and  hundreds  of  others  engaged 
for  this  service.  Belgians,  Britishers,  and 
Russians  who  were  residents  of  the  country 
enlisted  in  local  defense  corps,  and  were  drill- 
ing both  at  Kambove  and  at  Elisabethville  to 
be  prepared  for  any  emergencies,  and  contin- 
gents went  forward  to  Lake  Tanganyika,  and 
scores  went  south,  some  to  join  other  forces  in 
South  Africa,  others  to  proceed  to  Europe  to 
rejoin  their  regiments  or  to  enlist  in  favorite 
corps. 

And  just  here  let  me  say  that  the  news  of 
the  outbreak  of  the  European  war  reached 
Kambove  at  about  the  same  time  that  it  did 
the  United  States.  The  news  was  received  by 
wireless,  there  being  a  surveyor  with  a  porta- 
ble equipment  near  Kambove  at  the  time,  and 
from  that  day  on  all  the  notable  news  of  the 
war  was  received  daily  by  cable  and  by  wire- 
less, and  the  news  typed  and  tacked  up  at  the 
Railroad  Station  and  elsewhere,  so  that  in 


254          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

spite  of  our  long  distance  from  the  seat  of  war, 
and  our  residence  in  the  heart  of  Africa,  we 
were  nevertheless  promptly  supplied  with  the 
news.  At  Elisabethville  the  two  local  papers 
published  daily  bulletins.  . 

As  for  our  Mission  activities,  the  evangelis- 
tic work  was  restricted  for  a  time  on  account 
of  the  departure  of  thousands  of  natives  with 
the  expeditions  and  others  going  to  their 
homes,  but  the  work  of  the  Fox  Bible  Training 
School  was  benefited.  Many  of  the  boys  who 
had  been  planning  to  enter  the  school  came 
at  this  time.  Some  of  them  had  money  and 
some  had  not,  but  these  were  willing  to  work 
out  the  fee.  When  the  war  broke  out  a  number 
of  unscrupulous  contractors  sought  to  cheat 
hundreds  of  their  natives  out  of  several 
months'  pay.  They  frightened  the  boys  by 
intimating  or  telling  them  that  the  "Bula 
Matadi,"  the  Belgians,  would  impress  them 
for  service  as  soldiers  or  carriers,  whereupon 
the  boys  bolted  for  home  at  night,  leaving  their 
pay  behind.  The  Construction  Company  at 
once  began  to  take  action  against  the  contrac- 
tors in  behalf  of  the  natives,  but  it  was  im- 
possible to  right  many  of  the  wrongs,  and 
although  native  messengers  were  sent  out  in 
all  directions  to  call  back  any  boys  who  were 


A  NEW  EPOCH  255 

not  paid,  hundreds  had  gone  beyond  recall. 
As  soon  as  the  Company  learned  of  the  pur- 
pose of  these  contractors,  they  sent  out  in- 
structions for  all  the  natives  yet  unpaid  to 
report  at  the  headquarters  near  Kambove  to 
receive  their  wages,  thus  insuring  their  being 
paid. 

I  have  referred  to  the  matter  of  fees.  The 
very  day  that  we  reached  Kambove  we  an- 
nounced that  any  adult  natives  who  wished  to 
enter  the  school  must  pay  the  sum  of  one  hun- 
dred francs,  twenty  dollars,  as  an  entrance 
fee.  They  were  getting  good  wages  every- 
where, and  we  considered  that  it  was  only 
right  that  they  should  contribute  what  they 
could  for  the  support  of  the  school.  More- 
over, we  required  this  as  a  guarantee  of  good 
faith  on  the  part  of  the  prospective  pupil,  that 
he  would  observe  the  regulations  of  the  school, 
and  also  that  he  would  remain  for  the  five 
years  required.  We  have  found  at  home,  as 
well  as  abroad,  that  humanity  is  most  inter- 
ested in  the  thing  that  has  cost  the  most,  and 
we  knew  that  the  pupils  would  appreciate  the 
school  more,  and  be  more  diligent  in  their 
studies  if  they  had  to  pay  for  entrance  into 
the  school.  That  which  costs  little  or  nothing 
is  lightly  esteemed.  This  is  true  even  in  regard 


256          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

to  the  fellowship  with  God.  A  fellowship  in 
service  with  the  Divine  that  costs  dearly  in 
what  by  standards  of  earth  we  call  comforts 
and  luxuries,  grows  rich  and  sweet  and  pre- 
cious. For  those  called  abroad  to  serve  the 
Kingdom  there  are  rich  compensations.  The 
missionary  usually  gets  the  best  out  of  the 
missionary  enterprise.  By  having  lopped  off 
the  incidental  and  extraneous  accessories  of 
life  he  comes  to  a  realization  of  the  true  and 
eternal  values.  Not  uniquely  so,  of  course, 
because  these  lessons  can  be  learned,  and  are 
learned  by  some  in  every  land  and  in  every 
walk  of  life,  but  the  average  missionary  stands 
a  better  chance  to  learn  them  than  the  average 
man  in  any  other  walk  or  circumstances  of 
life. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Gup  till  early  proved  that  they 
were  the  right  people  for  the  right  place.  Mr. 
Guptill  had  had  rather  an  amusing  experience 
in  choosing  his  life  work.  First  of  all,  he 
wanted  to  be  a  carpenter  like  his  father ;  then 
there  came  the  conviction  that  this  was  not 
to  be  his  life  work,  and  he  decided  that  he 
would  be  a  teacher.  Later  on  came  the  call 
to  preach,  and  he  reluctantly  gave  up  his  be- 
loved idea  of  teaching.  Then  came  the  call 
to  missionary  work  while  he  was  enjoying  a 


A  NEW  EPOCH  257 

successful  pastorate,  and  was  looking  forward 
with  keen  interest  to  a  life  devoted  to  the 
country  church  problem,  but  he  gave  that  up 
and  turned  to  Africa,  where,  on  arrival  he 
found  that  he  could  and  must  be  carpenter, 
teacher,  preacher,  missionary,  and  everything 
else  that  one  could  think  of  combined,  includ- 
ing the  running  of  a  printing  press. 

I  would  emphasize  the  fact  that  the  main 
task  in  the  Fox  Bible  Training  School,  which 
now  had  found  its  permanent  home  in  Kam- 
bove,  is  the  training  of  native  evangelists  and 
teachers.  Kambove  has  commended  itself  as 
an  excellent  home  for  the  School,  since  it 
offers  large  opportunities  for  clinical  practice 
for  pupils  in  teaching,  evangelizing,  and  per- 
sonal work  and  service  in  connection  with 
the  thousands  of  recruited  laborers  employed 
annually  on  the  mine  near  at  hand,  and  to  be 
employed  on  other  mines  within  a  radius  of 
a  few  miles.  Such  clinics  for  our  pupils  we 
regard  as  being  as  essential  and  valuable  as 
hospital  clinics  for  medical  students. 

It  is  impossible  to  accomplish  the  Christian 
program  by  use  of  foreign  missionaries  alone. 
In  the  first  place,  they  are  too  few  and  too 
costly,  and  in  the  second  place  they  can  never 
be  perfectly  adapted  agencies  for  the  ultimate 


S58          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

work  involved.  The  brighter  young  men  of 
the  various  mission  fields  can  receive  a  train- 
ing at  the  hands  of  the  foreigner,  but  the  result 
of  that  training  never  really  is,  and  never 
should  be,  a  Europeanized  or  Americanized 
Negro,  Indian,  or  Chinaman.  If  such  do 
result  there  is  essential  failure.  What  is  de- 
sired is  a  renewed  individual  of  the  particular 
race,  transformed  in  his  life  by  the  regenerat- 
ing power  of  God,  developing  a  healthy  type 
according  to  the  characteristics  with  which 
God,  in  his  wisdom,  has  endowed  that  particu- 
lar race,  and  then  working  and  living  true 
to  that  racial  type.  In  other  words,  our  work 
is  not  to  make  Americans  of  the  Negroes  of 
Africa,  nor  are  Englishmen  to  make  Britishers 
of  the  Chinese,  but  we  are  to  take  the  seed  of 
the  Word  and  plant  it  in  the  soil  of  these  vari- 
ous races,  then  tend,  prune,  and  train  accord- 
ing to  the  best  wisdom  that  has  been  given  us 
under  the  definite  leadership  of  the  Spirit  of 
God,  until  our  work  is  done  and  we  shall  be 
called  from  our  task  in  some  distant  future, 
when,  perchance,  we  shall  discover  that  our 
own  life  as  a  race,  or  as  a  distinct  branch  of 
the  inclusive  human  race,  has  been  enriched 
and  broadened  in  a  large  compensation.  At 
the  very  least,  the  individual  lives  of  all  who 


A  NEW  EPOCH  259 

have  labored  at  the  task  at  home  or  abroad 
will  be  lifted  up  and  crowned  by  entering  into 
the  true  inwardness  of  sonship  to  God,  Who 
created,  Who  loved,  Who  gave,  and  Who  lives 
and  works. 


CHAPTER  XIX 
THE  CONGO  MISSION  ORGANIZED 

THE  latter  half  of  1914  sped  by  rapidly, 
crowded  to  the  full  with  work  for  every  one, 
and  marked  by  many  interesting  events  which 
must,  of  necessity,  be  passed  over  without 
mention.  The  opening  of  the  work  at  Elisa- 
bethville, however,  must  not  be  omitted. 
Elisabethville  is  the  capital  of  the  Katanga 
Province,  and  is  the  largest  town  of  Euro- 
peans in  all  of  the  Belgian  Congo,  having  had 
as  high  as  fifteen  hundred  such  foreigners  at 
one  time.  The  number  of  recruited  natives 
about  this  center  has  been  as  many  as  ten 
thousand.  About  half  of  the  European  popu- 
lation is  Roman  Catholic,  and  for  them  there 
had  been  built  a  church,  in  charge  of  the  Bene- 
dictines, but  no  Protestant  minister  or  mis- 
sionary has  so  far  resided  there.  Occasionally 
the  Anglican  Railroad  missioner  from  Rho- 
desia has  visited  Elisabethville. 

Just  before  the  Pipers  were  to  leave  Kam- 
bove,  I  received  a  telegram  asking  me  to  come 

260 


THE  CONGO  MISSION  ORGANIZED      261 

to  Elisabethville  and  christen  the  infant  of  a 
Belgian  physician,  a  Protestant.  This  was 
my  first  visit  to  Elisabethville  since  1911.  I 
had  been  alone  with  the  work,  and  with  the 
pressure  of  building,  I  had  not  been  able  to 
go  down  there  previously.  On  that  Sabbath 
I  was  asked  to  baptize  another  baby  also ;  the 
child  of  a  Swiss  Protestant  mother. 

I  took  Simon  with  me,  well  supplied  with 
books  from  the  Book  Store,  and  left  him  to 
visit  the  various  camps,  which  I  did  not  have 
time  to  look  up  on  this  visit.  A  month  later  I 
sent  him  back  again  with  another  lot  of  books, 
among  them  some  that  had  been  definitely 
ordered  on  his  previous  visit.  On  his  return 
this  time  he  brought  to  me  a  petition  signed 
by  twenty-four  Christian  young  men  from 
Nyasaland,  asking  me  to  come  to  Elisabeth- 
ville and  organize  them  into  a  church,  as  they 
had  no  place  in  which  to  meet  on  the  Sabbath 
and  for  prayer  services,  except  out  of  doors  in 
front  of  their  small  huts.  This  petition  was 
headed  by  Moses  and  Joseph,  who  have  been 
previously  mentioned.  There  were  about 
Elisabethville  at  this  time  more  than  one  hun- 
dred such  young  men,  many  of  whom  had 
letters  of  church  membership  with  them,  and 
who  had  been  disappointed  that  there  was  no 


262          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

Protestant  church  with  which  they  could 
affiliate.  I  was  told  that  at  one  time,  two 
or  three  years  previously,  there  were  as  many 
as  five  hundred  of  these  young  men  from 
Nyasaland,  where  there  is  but  little  industry 
and  only  low  wages,  and  so  they  had  swarmed 
over  here  for  work  and  high  pay.  They  were 
the  overflow  from  a  very  successful  work  that 
had  grown  up  in  Nyasaland,  where  the  school 
system  and  chapels  extend  to  nearly  every 
village.  This  is  under  the  Scotch  Presby- 
terians, notably  the  Free  Church,  whose  great 
educational  institution  is  at  Livingstonia, 
under  the  leadership  of  that  most  eminent  mis- 
sionary of  Central  Africa,  Dr.  Robert  Laws. 
These  trained  young  men  are  taking  a  large 
share  in  the  development  of  the  Katanga  as 
skilled  workers,  overseers,  assistant  masons, 
carpenters,  and  cabinet  makers,  clerks,  inter- 
preters, compositors,  store  assistants,  man- 
agers of  branch  stores,  cooks,  personal  serv- 
ants, and  as  ordinary  workmen.  Owing  to 
the  lack  of  a  church  center  for  them,  there 
has  been  a  great  wastage  for  the  Kingdom. 
The  example  of  the  more  evil  element  among 
the  white  men,  and  of  some  claiming  a  goodly 
degree  of  respectability,  had  led  many  of  these 
native  young  men  astray,  as  they  had  ob- 


THE  CONGO  MISSION  ORGANIZED      263 

served  the  examples  of  drinking,  gambling, 
and  immorality — the  taking  of  native  women 
along  the  Construction.  The  almost  utter  dis- 
regard of  the  Sabbath,  and  the  consequent 
necessity  for  these  young  men  to  work  on  Sun- 
days had  also  been  no  small  factor  in  their 
undoing,  but  a  certain  number  of  them,  like 
Joseph  and  Moses,  had  remained  steadfast. 

In  November  I  hired  a  hall  and  announced 
services  for  nine  o'clock  on  Sunday  morning. 
I  was  eating  my  breakfast  at  the  hotel  when 
a  young  man  rushed  up  to  the  back  door  and 
broke  out  with  the  exclamation :  "Please  come 
quick,  Teacher,  plenty  much  boys  at  the 
church  now."  It  was  very  true.  We  had  three 
large,  overflowing  services  that  day,  and  on 
the  part  of  scores  of  boys  who  had  not  had 
the  opportunities  for  education  at  their  homes 
there  was  an  earnest  request  for  a  school,  and 
soon  we  had  a  flourishing  night  school,  in 
charge  of  Moses,  who  showed  himself  a  most 
capable  and  efficient  teacher  and  manager. 
With  Moses  and  Joseph  as  a  nucleus,  I  sifted 
out  the  young  men  for  church  membership, 
receiving  many  by  letter,  and  took  on  a  large 
class  of  probationers,  as  well  as  a  number  of 
"hearers,"  and  so  in  December,  when  I  was 
accompanied  by  Mr.  Guptill,  at  this  capital 


264          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

town  we  organized  a  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  out  of  Presbyterians  and  a  few  Con- 
gregationalists.  Dr.  Laws,  Eev.  Donald 
Frazer,  and  other  missionaries  have  been  most 
pleased  and  relieved  to  learn  of  our  work  in 
the  Katanga,  where  we  can  shepherd  their 
boys.  As  they  wrote  me,  their  hearts  had  been 
wrung  at  the  reports  they  had  heard  of  some 
of  their  fine  young  men  going  utterly  astray. 
Our  relations  with  these  other  Societies  will 
be  reciprocal.  We  are  reaching  many  young 
men  who  are  not  Christians  on  arrival  at  the 
mineral  fields,  and  on  their  return  to  their 
homes  they  will  be  given  letters  to  the 
churches  there.  The  spirit  of  comity  prevails, 
and  the  young  converts,  passing  from  one  mis- 
sion to  another,  feel  perfectly  at  home. 

Bishops  Hartzell  and  Anderson  were  to  have 
visited  us  early  in  September,  but  the  outbreak 
of  the  war  delayed  them  and  so  it  was  New 
Year's  Day  when  Bishop  Hartzell  reached 
Elisabethville,  but  without  Bishop  Anderson, 
who  had  been  prevented  by  war  conditions 
from  coming.  I  met  Bishop  Hartzell  at  Elisa- 
bethville. On  the  day  previous  I  had  arranged 
a  special  interview  with  the  Vice-Governor 
General,  who  consented  to  introduce  this  item 
of  business  into  the  holiday.  Upon  coming 


THE  CONGO  MISSION  ORGANIZED      265 

out  from  this  interview,  we  were  met  by  ap- 
pointment by  Mr.  A.  A.  Thompson,  Manager 
for  Robert  Williams  &  Co.,  who  took  us,  in  his 
American-built  automobile,  to  see  the  smelters 
where  the  output  for  the  month  previous  had 
been  fifteen  hundred  tons  of  bar  copper,  which 
output  has  been  continued  through  the 
months  since.  We  were  shown  excavations 
for  additional  furnaces  that  would  more  than 
double  this  capacity.  The  construction  of 
these  furnaces  was  stopped  for  a  time  by  the 
war,  but  has  been  renewed  owing  to  the  large 
demand  for  copper.  Bishop  Hartzell  was 
greatly  interested  to  see  the  number  of  Ameri- 
can machines  and  appliances  about  the^  large 
plant,  and  to  learn  that  Mr.  Horner,  the  Gen- 
eral Manager  for  the  entire  group  of  mines,  as 
well  as  the  Mining  Engineer  and  his  staff,  and 
several  other  important  employees  of  the 
mines,  were  Americans. 

We  reached  Kambove  at  10  that  evening. 
At  the  railroad  station  that  night  all  our 
mission  forces  had  gathered  to  receive  the 
Bishop.  The  nearly  two  score  of  boys  and 
young  men  had  lined  themselves  up  in  military 
fashion  and  gave  him  a  salute  as  he  passed 
them,  then  falling  in  line  at  the  rear,  sang 
hymns  all  the  way  to  the  Mission.  This  was 


266          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

Bishop  HartzelFs  initial  visit  to  this  field, 
and  he  was  surprised  and  delighted  with  the 
development  of  the  work. 

The  next  day,  January  2,  which  was  also 
our  tenth  wedding  anniversary,  Bishop  Hart- 
zell  organized  the  Congo  Mission,  setting  this 
field  off  from  the  West  Central  Africa  Mission 
Conference,  of  which  it  had  been  a  part;  but 
in  these  five  years  wre  had  not  been  able  to 
attend  a  single  session  of  the  Conference 
which,  in  point  of  time  and  accessibility,  was 
nearly  as  remote  from  us  as  America.  With 
the  completion  of  the  Benguella  Railway  these 
conditions  will  be  greatly  improved.  For  our 
session  we  gathered  around  the  table  in  the 
dining-room  of  our  residence — "Fox  Villa." 
The  early  forenoon  sun  still  shone  through 
the  door  and  flooded  the  room  with  great 
radiance,  like  unto  the  joy  that  filled  all  our 
hearts.  Looking  out  through  the  clear  panes 
of  glass  in  the  door,  the  eye  traveled  over  a 
vast  expanse  of  wooded  forest  for  more  than 
eighty  miles  to  the  Congo-Zambezi  Divide 
toward  the  southeast,  the  mass  of  dark  foliage, 
lighted  up  here  and  there  by  brilliant  scarlet 
as  a  few  trees  put  forth  their  new  belated 
leaves.  The  Bishop  sat  at  the  head  of  the 
table,  and  on  one  side  of  him  were  Mr.  and 


THE  OFFICE     Fox  VILLA      GUEST  HOUSE      KAMBOVE 

MOTHER'S  HOUSE 
MRS.  SPRINGER  COMING  DOWN  THE  HILL 


BISHOP  HARTZELL  AND  MISSION  GROUP,  JANUARY  2,  1915 


THE  CONGO  MISSION  ORGANIZED      267 

Mrs.  Gup  till,  and  on  the  other  Mrs.  Miller 
and  Mrs.  Springer,  and  myself  at  the  foot  of 
the  table. 

Luther's  great  hymn,  "A  Mighty  Fortress 
is  our  God,"  gave  expression  to  our  hearts' 
deep  emotions;  then,  as  the  Bishop  followed 
with  the  exposition  of  the  Forty-sixth  Psalm, 
"Jehovah  is  our  refuge  and  strength,"  etc.,  he 
summed  up  the  experience  of  the  years  past 
and  expressed  what  was  our  faith  for  the 
future.  We  felt  the  Divine  presence  to  be  very 
near  and  in  the  session  of  prayer  following 
each  poured  out  his  heart  in  praise,  in  conse- 
cration, and  in  petition  for  the  interests  of  the 
Kingdom  in  this  land.  As  the  work  of  the  five 
years  was  reviewed  and  the  present  situation 
considered,  it  seemed  marvelous  to  us  that 
with  so  small  a  force  and  so  limited  resources, 
so  much  had  been  accomplished.  We  were 
anew  overwhelmed  with  the  sense  of  the  per- 
sonal presence  of  God,  the  Master  Worker  of 
it  all,  and  ourselves  as  his  little  children  whose 
sole  business  for  the  past  five  years  had  been 
to  walk  quietly  along,  obedient  day  by  day, 
as  His  will,  His  purposes,  and  His  plans  were 
made  known  to  us,  and  His  workings  unfolded 
before  us.  No  tongue  can  tell  what  a  blessed 
fellowship,  what  a  blessed  sense  of  companion- 


268          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

ship,  aye,  of  partnership  there  was  during 
these  years,  and  which  grows  stronger  all  the 
time. 

Geographically,  the  Congo  Mission  covers  a 
section  about  four  hundred  miles  square,  mak- 
ing an  area  of  one  hundred  and  sixty  thousand 
square  miles,  a  territory  as  large  as  Michigan, 
Illinois,  and  Indiana  combined.  This  region 
is  very  near  the  exact  center  of  Africa,  and 
has  often  been  designated  as  the  "unreached 
Livingstone  country."  That  great  explorer 
walked  along  all  sides  of  it,  except  the  north, 
and  he  touched  it  on  the  southwest  corner  and 
on  the  east.  For  all  of  this  large  area,  we  were 
able  to  report  only  two  main  stations  and  the 
beginnings  of  the  work  at  Elisabethville. 
Doctor  and  Mrs.  Piper  were  at  Mwata 
Yamvo's,  the  capital  of  the  Lunda  field, 
which  is  exactly  the  size  of  the  State  of 
Michigan.  They  were  unable  to  be  present  at 
this  interesting  conference  because  of  the 
great  distance.  In  what  might  be  regarded 
as  the  Illinois  part  of  the  field,  there  is  the 
Kainbove  Station  and  the  work  at  Elisabeth- 
ville. To  the  north,  in  what  would  then  be 
the  Indiana  area,  there  was  no  Christian  work 
whatsoever,  but  in  that  area  was  the  densest 
village  population  of  all,  and  there  to-day 


THE  CONGO  MISSION  ORGANIZED      269 

Kaluwasi  and  four  of  his  associates  at  least 
are  ready  to  cooperate  with  the  missionary 
on  his  arrival. 

When  we  turned  from  what  had  been  accom- 
plished and  looked  at  the  needs  of  the  field, 
the  results  achieved  paled  into  insignificance 
in  view  of  what  was  to  be  done.  We  had  a 
keen  sense  of  having  just  arrived  and  of  look- 
ing out  upon  the  vast  opportunities  before  us ; 
but  we  now  had  roofs  over  our  heads ;  we  had 
boys  and  young  men  in  training,  and  a  few 
earnest  evangelistic  teachers  at  work,  these 
all  constituting  samples  to  circulate  among  the 
people,  samples  of  what  they  were  called  to. 
We  had  in  operation  the  Book  Store  for  the 
dissemination  of  good  literature  of  all  kinds 
to  the  peoples  of  Central  Africa,  and  con- 
nected with  that  a  Mission  Press ;  and  also  we 
had  the  beginnings  of  the  Livingstone  Me- 
morial Library. 

While  the  beginnings  of  the  Book  Store 
have  been  given,  I  have  not  yet  stated  that  the 
original  capital  of  two  English  pounds  ster- 
ling (ten  dollars)  was  given  me  in  1907  by 
a  German  Jew,  a  reservist  in  the  German 
army,  as  we  passed  through  Kansanshi.  He 
came  to  Kambove  with  his  three  hundred 
native  workmen  soon  after  our  arrival  in  1913, 


270          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

and  it  was  from  him  that  I  secured  the  twenty 
boys  to  work  on  the  adobe  bricks.  On  the  out- 
break of  the  war  he,  with  the  other  Germans, 
was  summoned  and  sent  down  to  Pretoria  to 
be  interned.  A  Russian  Jew,  with  British 
citizenship,  gave  me  two  pounds  additional  for 
our  work,  and  this  sum  I  also  added  to  the 
capital  of  the  Book  Store. 

The  initial  unit  of  the  outfit  for  the  Congo 
Mission  Press  came  from  Detroit,  Michigan, 
having  been  given  by  the  Kev.  Arthur  Wesley, 
of  the  family  of  Methodism's  founder.  It  was 
added  to  by  my  uncle,  Kev.  I.  E.  Springer,  and 
his  son,  Durand,  formerly  a  member  of  the 
Book  Committee.  My  uncle  is  a  superannuate 
of  the  Detroit  Conference  after  fifty  years  of 
service.  As  he  and  the  Rev.  George  Marsh, 
who  had  aided  in  perfecting  and  packing  the 
outfit,  drove  the  last  screw  into  the  packing 
cases,  Uncle  proposed  that  they  consecrate  the 
outfit  by  prayer,  and  there,  amid  the  packing 
litter  in  that  church  basement,  he  poured  out 
a  fervent  prayer  for  rich  blessing  upon  this 
small  outfit,  and  for  the  great  publishing 
house  that  is  certain  to  grow  out  of  it,  and 
for  its  great  usefulness  in  the  service  of  the 
Kingdom  in  Central  Africa.  This  press  was 
set  to  work  a  little  later,  in  1915,  by  Mr.  Gup- 


THE  CONGO  MISSION  ORGANIZED      271 

till,  and  the  first  impression  from  it  was  John 
3.  16  in  three  languages.  Mr.  Guptill  has 
since  turned  off  considerable  material  for  the 
class  room,  and  has  also  produced  the  first 
hymn  book  in  the  Luunda  language.  Later  two 
primers  were  undertaken  for  this  same  lan- 
guage. The  Press,  though  separately  named, 
is  an  integral  part  of  the  Book  Store.  What 
an  opportunity  it  has  before  it  with  the  larger 
part  of  Central  Africa  for  a  field ! 

Our  plans  include  the  employment  of  a 
number  of  young  men,  many  of  whom  will  be 
teachers  and  evangelists  of  the  Mission,  who, 
like  Jacob,  know  more  than  one  language. 
These  will  assist  in  the  translation  of  books 
into  the  various  vernaculars,  and  then  selec- 
tion will  be  made  from  among  these  young 
men  to  extend  the  translation  to  other  dialects. 
Our  first  attention  will  be  given  to  such  books 
as  Pilgrim's  Progress;  books  of  Bible  stories, 
helpful  expositions,  devotional  books,  etc.,  and 
thus  we  will  build  up  a  literature  for  the 
peoples  in  their  own  tongues. 

While  there  are  many  tongues  and  dialects 
in  Central  Africa,  these  fall  into  groups,  and 
by  cooperation  between  the  various  mission- 
ary agencies,  union  versions  are  being  pro- 
duced, thus  reducing  the  linguistic  difficulties 


272          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

to  a  minimum.  Scripture  and  Bible  publica- 
tion is  almost  wholly  cared  for  by  the  British 
and  Foreign,  the  Scottish  and  the  American 
Bible  Societies.  These  are  essential  adjuncts 
of  all  missionary  societies  and,  deservedly, 
have  the  grateful  appreciation  of  all  mission- 
aries, but,  beyond  what  these  do,  there  is  great 
need  for  presses  right  on  the  field  to  produce 
supplementary  literature  for  the  enrichment 
of  the  mental  life  of  these  peoples. 

Mention  was  made  of  the  Livingstone  Me- 
morial Library.  In  1913,  as  our  humble  share 
in  the  celebration  of  the  Livingstone  Centen- 
nial, we  decided  to  establish  this  Library  to  his 
memory  in  connection  with  our  work  in  the 
Katanga,  and  we  felt  that  it  was  particularly 
appropriate  that  such  a  memorial  library 
should  be  located  in  this  area,  as  we  were  in 
the  section  of  Central  Africa  last  on  his  heart. 
When  setting  out  on  his  last  journey,  he  wrote 
to  his  daughter  that  he  had  three  objects  in 
view;  he  wished  to  visit  the  copper  mines  in 
the  Katanga  country,  also  some  reported  hot 
springs,  and  to  look  up  certain  cave  dwellers 
of  whom  he  had  heard.  These  cave  dwellers 
we  have  never  been  able  to  trace.  The  hot 
springs  are  about  fifty  miles  east  of  Kambove. 
As  for  the  copper  mines,  we  were  in  the  very 


THE  CONGO  MISSION  ORGANIZED      273 

midst  of  them.  Kambove  Mine,  the  second 
largest  deposit  of  copper  in  the  world,  is  about 
the  center  of  the  rich  mineral  field,  which 
extends  for  about  two  hundred  miles  in  a 
northwesterly  and  southeasterly  direction. 
Livingstone  was  the  first  European  to  make 
mention  of  these  copper  deposits.  On  his  first 
trip  from  the  Zambezi  River  above  the  Vic- 
toria Falls  to  the  West  Coast  and  return,  and 
which  trip  wras  then  extended  to  the  East 
Coast,  he  heard  from  the  natives  of  these 
copper  deposits,  and  located  them  approxi- 
mately on  his  map.  In  1914,  when  again 
studying  this  map,  published  in  connection 
with  his  first  book,  it  was  with  peculiar  in- 
terest that  we  noted  the  strange  coincidence 
that  the  location  of  the  two  stations  we  had 
built  in  1913  were  the  two  notable  geographical 
locations  that  he  had  put  on  his  map  in  this 
region  to  the  north,  namely,  "Musumba-Mati- 
amvo"  and  "Reported  Malachite  Mines." 
Through  the  years  following  his  initial  trip  he 
evidently  never  forgot  the  country  of  Chief 
Katanga,  then  the  great  native  ruler  of  this 
section.  And  in  1872-1873  he  was  wrearily 
plodding  through  the  swamps,  along  the  south 
end  of  Lake  Benguelo,  and  then  was  turning 
northwesterly  to  visit  this  very  region.  This 


274  PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

evidently  was  ever  with  the  hope  that  the 
industry  that  would  be  introduced  in  connec- 
tion with  the  development  of  these  mineral 
deposits  would  hasten  the  destruction  of  the 
accursed  slave  traffic,  which  he  hated  with  all 
the  intensity  of  his  soul.  And  we  can  easily 
believe  that  the  needs  of  the  unreached  in- 
terior were  in  his  petitions  as,  alone  in  that 
humble  hut  two  hundred  and  fifty  miles  south- 
east of  Kambove,  on  his  knees  in  that  final 
prayer,  he  poured  out  his  soul  unto  God  and 
yielded  up  his  brave  spirit. 

As  I  have  elsewhere  recorded,  Robert  Wil- 
liams repeatedly  avows  his  debt  to  Livingstone 
that  he  first  heard  of  these  copper  deposits  and 
was  encouraged  to  send  his  prospectors  a  thou- 
sand miles  ahead  of  the  railway  and  to  per- 
sist until  they  found  these  deposits.  Living- 
stone particularly  mentions  two  hills  of  cop- 
per, between  which  was  a  stream  from  the  bed 
of  which  natives  washed  gold.  From  the  west 
end  of  the  house,  in  which  as  a  group  of  Mis- 
sion workers  we  were  gathered,  one  sees,  a 
mile  and  a  half  away,  two  hills  of  copper,  im- 
mediately between  which  is  the  head  of  a  gorge 
recently  given  the  name  of  Livingstone  Spruit 
(creek),  where  the  early  prospectors  found 
nuggets  of  gold,  and  which  by  the  natives  was 


THE  CONGO  MISSION  ORGANIZED      275 

called  "M'sidi's  hole."  Here  at  the  Kambove 
Mission,  in  sight  of  this  stream  bearing  Liv- 
ingstone's name,  is  where  the  infant  Library 
at  present  has  its  home. 

Besides  the  main  working  reference  Library, 
to  be  affiliated  in  the  future  with  our  highest 
educational  institution,  wherever  it  may  be 
located,  and  which  will  probably  bear  the 
name  of  the  Congo  Institute,  and  which — in 
some  not  distant  decade — will  be  doing  work 
up  to  college  grade,  we  want  to  have  branches 
in  various  towns  and  a  circulating  department 
to  help  the  reading  public — European  and 
native — to  beguile  and  improve  their  leisure 
time. 

The  continued  influence  of  David  Living- 
stone is  still  felt  throughout  all  of  Central 
Africa,  and  no  activity  of  Europeans  in  all 
this  land,  be  it  commercial,  industrial,  govern- 
mental, or  religious,  but  owes  a  great  debt  of 
gratitude  to  that  intrepid  servant  of  God  who 
opened  up  more  than  a  million  square  miles  of 
darkest  Africa  to  a  new  day  and  development. 

Conference  Sunday  was  a  notable  day;  the 
usual  communion  service  brought  together 
quite  a  number  of  the  Christian  Capitas,  who 
make  a  point  of  being  there  on  such  occasions, 
while  the  announcement  of  the  coming  of  the 


276          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

Bishop  brought  quite  a  number  additional. 
One  candidate  (not  the  first  by  several,  how- 
ever )  was  presented  for  baptism  by  the  Bishop, 
namely,  Mubita,  a  Murotsi.  It  was  a  group 
of  his  people  that  Livingstone  led  with  their 
elephant  tusks  to  the  West  Coast  that  they 
might  find  a  market  for  their  ivory,  besides  a 
slave-mart.  This  trip  was  the  beginning  of 
Livingstone's  great  explorations.  Mubita  had 
been  ready  for  baptism  for  some  time,  and  we 
had  delayed  the  ceremony  until  the  visit  of 
the  Bishop,  but  this  had  not  delayed  the  use 
of  Mubita  as  an  evangelist.  For  some  time  he 
had  been  my  principal  interpreter,  and  he 
served  in  this  capacity  for  Bishop  Hartzell 
this  day.  About  Kambove  were  several  groups 
of  his  tribes,  men  working  on  railroad  con- 
struction, to  whom  he  alone  of  all  our  helpers 
could  speak  understanding^.  After  the  bap- 
tism Brother  Guptill  and  myself  received  eight 
boys  on  probation,  and  then  followed  the  com- 
munion service.  On  Easter  Sabbath  I  had 
taken  in  twenty-one  probationers,  and  still 
other  groups  later.  A  few  had  already  been 
received  into  full  membership. 

The  task  of  appointing  the  few  workers 
available  presented  no  serious  problems  to  the 
episcopal  mind,  but  there  was  sorrow  not  to 


THE  CONGO  MISSION  ORGANIZED      277 

be  able  to  send  men  out  to  the  several  needy 
points.  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Piper  were  already  over- 
taxed, and  the  work  at  their  station  called 
aloud  for  immediate  reenforcements  of  at  least 
one  additional  couple.  Kambove  likewise 
demands  two  couples  to  care  for  the  large 
work  and  to  extend  it  to  the  villages,  which 
latter  line  of  work  we  simply  had  not  been 
able,  up  to  that  time,  to  give  any  time  or  atten- 
tion to.  Elisabethville  but  waited  for  the  mis- 
sionary, to  blossom  out  into  a  great  and  exten- 
sive work.  Chilongo,  sixty  miles  to  the  north- 
west of  Kambove,  which  is  to  be  the  junction 
point  of  the  Cape-to-Cairo  and  the  Benguella 
Eailways,  and  the  point  where  the  five-year 
Construction  Depot  has  been  located,  cries  out 
in  its  needs  for  missionaries.  Then,  further 
to  the  north,  Bukama,  Kongola,  Kinda,  and 
Kaluwasfs  country,  all  these  with  no  one  to 
go  to  them.  No  wonder  we  fell  on  our  knees 
and  cried  that  laborers  be  thrust  out  into  the 
harvest,  and  that  prayer  surely  will  be  an- 
swered. 

The  financial  review,  a  summary  of  which  is 
given  as  an  appendix,  "gave  us  great  encourage- 
ment with  a  total  income  in  five  years  of  f  23,- 
030.65.  Seven  missionaries  had  been  brought 
to  the  field,  and  these  had  given  sixteen  years 


278          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

of  missionary  service,  and  their  expenses  in 
itinerating  had  been  met.  Buildings  and  per- 
manent equipment  to  the  value  of  more  than 
$6,000  were  on  hand.  As  we  contemplated 
what  had  been  accomplished,  we  wondered 
what  relation  our  treasury  sustained  to  the 
widow's  cruse. 

On  Monday  the  Bishop  went  with  us  to  visit 
the  mine  and  to  consult  with  the  manager, 
Mr.  R.  M.  Johnson,  a  fellow  American,  about 
future  work  among  the  native  employees  of  the 
mine.  The  Bishop  was  greatly  pleased  with 
his  visit  and  with  the  prospects  for  the  future. 
We  also  called  on  M.  Ladame,  Belgian  Admin- 
istrator Territorial. 

Tuesday  morning  I  accompanied  Bishop 
Hartzell  back  to  Elisabethville,  where  there 
was  a  wait  of  two  hours  before  his  train  left 
for  the  south.  Mr.  Horner,  the  General 
Manager  of  the  Union  Miniere,  came  up  to  the 
station  in  his  automobile  to  meet  the  Bishop 
and  they  had  a  pleasant  interview.  Then  the 
train  bore  the  Bishop  away  to  the  south  to  his 
other  Conferences,  well  pleased  with  the  infant 
Congo  Mission  which  he  left  behind  and  which, 
as  he  wrote  from  the  border,  was  a  lively 
youngster. 


CHAPTER  XX 
A  BUNCH  OF  OUK  BOYS 


has  the  distinction  of  being  the  first 
pupil  to  pay  the  fee  of  one  hundred  francs 
(twenty  dollars)  to  enter  the  Fox  Bible  Train- 
ing School.  He  came  to  me  at  the  Mission  at 
Kambove  one  day  and  announced  his  intention 
of  coming  into  the  school.  We  talked  over  the 
conditions,  which  were  that  the  boys  must 
accept  our  rules  and  keep  them,  agree  to  stay 
five  years  in  the  school,  and  make  payment  of 
this  fee  —  all  of  which  he  said  was  perfectly 
agreeable  to  him,  and  he  would  go  at  once  and 
get  his  box  of  things  and  enter  the  school. 

I  saw  nothing  of  him  for  a  few  weeks  and 
had  begun  to  fear  that  he  had  changed  his 
mind  when  he  marched  on  to  the  grounds  one 
day  carrying  his  box.  He  came  to  the  office, 
pulled  out  an  old  rag,  and  took  from  it  one 
hundred  separate  francs  and  laid  them  down 
one  by  one  upon  the  table.  That  pile  of  francs 
looked  good  to  me.  On  coming  to  Kambove, 
where  there  was  plenty  of  work  and  where 
young  men  could  get  employment  and  in  a  few 

279 


280          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

months  save  up  this  amount,  we  had  decided 
that  we  would  start  out  with  the  requirement 
of  this  entrance  fee.  We  recognized  that  it 
might  be  a  year  or  two  before  any  boys  w^ould 
want  schooling  so  keenly  that  they  would  pay 
the  fee,  but  here  was  Malaya  coining  with  his 
payment  within  six  months  of  our  arrival. 
After  he  left  the  office  I  called  Mrs.  Springer 
down  to  look  at  that  pile  of  francs  on  my 
table,  and  we  rejoiced  together  over  the  reali- 
zation of  our  faith  that  the  entrance  fee  would 
not  constitute  an  insurmountable  barrier  to 
any  one  washing  to  enter  the  school. 

Malaya  took  up  his  studies  with  great  ear- 
nestness and  made  good  progress  for  his  age, 
which  might  have  been  anywhere  between 
twenty-five  and  thirty-five.  He  had  never  been 
to  school  before  and  had  to  begin  with  the 
a  b  c's.  He  had  not  been  at  the  Mission  long 
when  he  had  dreams  that  greatly  impressed 
him.  As  he  lay  in  his  little  hut  in  the  com- 
pound one  night,  he  seemed  to  be  visited  by 
One  like  unto  the  Son  of  God,  who  was  travel- 
ing from  the  West  to  the  East.  He  spoke  to 
him  by  name  and  said,  "Malaya,  it  is  very  good 
that  you  have  come  here  to  study,  but  you 
must  not  only  learn  to  read;  you  must  give 
particular  heed  to  the  Great  Book  which  the 


A  BUNCH  OF  OUR  BOYS  281 

missionary  has  brought.  I  will  return  later 
and  see  if  you  have  done  this."  A  few  nights 
later  the  same  visitor  came  to  him  again  and 
said,  "Malaya,  it  is  a  very  good  thing  that  you 
have  come  into  the  school,  but  it  is  not  enough 
for  you  to  learn  to  read  the  Great  Book;  you 
must  also  give  your  heart  to  God.  I  shall  be 
coming  back  this  way  again  later  on,  and  I 
want  to  see  that  you  have  truly  done  this  and 
come  into  fellowship  with  your  Heavenly 
Father." 

It  was  shortly  after  this  that  we  had  one 
of  our  series  of  special  meetings,  and  the  first 
night  Malaya  arose  and  gave  his  testimony 
and  said  that  he  had  decided  to  follow  the  in- 
junction given  him  and  give  his  heart  to  God. 
From  this  time  on  he  manifested  a  new  spirit. 
His  conversion,  like  the  conversion  6f  all  of 
our  boys,  was  quiet  but  very  real. 

He  had  left  his  wife  at  his  home  up  near 
Lake  Tanganyika,  several  hundred  miles  north- 
east. He  soon  asked  permission  to  be  absent 
from  the  school  long  enough  to  go  home  and 
get  her  that  she  also  might  come  to  the  school 
to  be  taught.  When  we  left  Africa  he  was 
still  absent  on  this  journey,  and  we  are  greatly 
interested  to  know  whether  he  found  his  wife 
still  faithful  to  him  or  not. 


282          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

Chiyoka  is  an  Umbundu  from  Angola.  He 
came  to  the  interior  with  Kayeka,  acting  as 
one  of  his  carriers.  Here  was  a  case  where 
a  boy,  having  exhausted  all  the  courses  offered 
at  the  vernacular  school,  was  hungry  for  fur- 
ther education.  Being  a  bright  youth  and 
competent  as  a  teacher  he  had  been  employed 
in  the  mission  school.  This  Mission  had  plans 
for  a  higher  institution  to  be  established  as 
soon  as  possible.  The  years  were  going  by  and 
it  had  not  been  established.  Chiyoka's  hunger 
only  increased  with  the  years,  and  he  was  now 
in  the  early  twenties.  Learning  of  Kayeka's 
plan  to  come  to  the  interior,  and  also  learning 
from  Kayeka  of  the  school  that  we  had  in 
which  we  were  teaching  English,  he  asked  to 
be  released  to  come  to  us.  For  some  reason 
his  release  was  not  granted  at  that  time,  and 
so  he  quietly  slipped  away  and  joined  Kayeka 
some  distance  down  the  road.  We  make  it  a 
rule  when  a  boy  comes  from  another  mission 
that  he  bring  a  letter  of  discharge  from  that 
mission,  as  we  wish  to  discourage  the  develop- 
ment of  "mission  rounders,"  a  class  of  youths 
that  do  no  good  to  themselves  nor  to  the  mis- 
sions they  favor  by  their  presence.  When 
Chiyoka  was  unable  to  give  us  such  a  recom- 
mendation and  we  learned  that  he  had  left 


A  BUNCH  OF  OUR  BOYS  283 

without  the  consent  of  the  Mission,  we  insisted 
that  he  must  return,  and  if  he  could  later 
bring  us  a  letter  of  dismissal  we  would  receive 
him.  He  went  back  the  eight  hundred  miles 
to  Angola  and  matters  had  so  changed  that 
at  that  time  he  was  free  to  come  to  us  if  he 
so  desired.  He  set  his  face  eastward  again 
and  came  a  thousand  miles  to  Kambove,  mak- 
ing nearly  three  thousand  miles  in  all  that  he 
had  traveled. 

He  was  able  to  pay  only  a  few  francs  on  his 
entrance  fee,  but  was  willing  to  work  out  the 
rest,  and  so  for  five  months  he  assisted  me  in 
the  building  operations,  doing  a  skilled  class 
of  work  in  laying  up  walls,  plastering,  etc. 
He  had  just  completed  the  payment  of  his  fee 
and  had  been  in  school  a  month  when  I  dis- 
missed a  workman  who  had  been  helping  me 
in  the  building.  Chiyoka  had  become  fasci- 
nated with  this  young  man  and  was  induced 
to  leave  with  him.  I  had  a  talk  with  him  the 
morning  that  he  left,  but  he  seemed  utterly 
deaf  to  reason,  and  would  think  of  nothing 
but  going  away  with  his  friend.  But  the  ex- 
periences of  the  few  months  following  brought 
him  to  his  senses  and  later  he  returned  again 
to  the  Mission  a  sadder  and  wiser  youth.  He 
settled  down  to  the  routine  of  the  school  with 


284          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

a  rare  and  beautiful  spirit,  wMcli  is  his  chief 
characteristic.  We  have  been  able  to  use  him 
as  a  teacher  in  the  afternoons  and  in  the  night 
schools  and,  readily  learning  the  dialects  cur- 
rent about  the  Kambove  camps,  he  was  useful 
as  an  interpreter  at  a  very  early  date. 

Simon's  home  was  about  six  hundred  miles 
southeast  of  Kambove.  He  came  to  the 
Katanga,  as  have  thousands  of  young  men 
from  that  same  region,  as  to  some  Eldorado 
where  great  wealth  was  to  be  realized.  He  is 
of  the  Ngoni  tribe,  an  offshoot  of  the  Zulu. 
He  had  completed  the  courses  in  the  vernacu- 
lar school  near  his  home,  and  had  also  learned 
some  English  and  had  been  used  as  a  sub- 
teacher.  He  had  been  variously  employed 
along  the  railroad  construction,  and  then  one 
day  came  to  me  asking  for  employment  for  a 
year  or  so.  He  much  preferred  to  be  working 
in  a  mission  where  he  could  learn  a  little  more 
English.  I  found  him  a  very  useful  worker, 
taking  some  of  the  classes  in  the  vernacular 
both  at  the  Mission  and  in  the  camp  com- 
pounds near  us.  He  was  particularly  useful 
as  a  colporteur  and  evangelist,  and  I  was  able 
to  send  him  out  on  trips  of  more  than  one 
hundred  miles,  selling  primers,  hymn  books, 


A  BUNCH  op  OUR  BOYS  285 

Scriptures,  etc.,  in  the  vernaculars  and  in  Eng- 
lish. He  was  my  chief  interpreter  for  some 
time.  The  question  is  often  raised  whether 
the  Holy  Spirit  can  work  through  an  interpre- 
ter. That  question  was  finally  answered  to 
my  entire  satisfaction  in  the  use  of  Simon, 
particularly  in  some  of  the  evangelistic  meet- 
ings where  we  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  many 
decisions  made  for  Christ.  After  completing 
his  year's  work  with  us  he  went  home,  and 
expects  to  return  later,  bringing  his  wife  with 
him,  and  become  a  permanent  resident  in  the 
Katanga,  probably  to  be  associated  with  our 
Mission  as  an  evangelist  and  teacher. 

There  are  in  the  aggregate  scores  of  young 
men,  even  better  trained  and  more  experienced 
than  Simon,  whom  we  can  employ  at  once  as 
teachers  and  evangelists  in  our  work  along 
railroads  and  about  the  mines  as  soon  as  we 
have  missionaries  on  the  ground  to  direct 
them. 

Kauseni  was  one  of  the  twenty  boys  whom 
I  secured  from  a  contractor  for  carrying  water 
to  make  the  adobe  bricks  for  our  house.  Dur- 
ing those  ten  days  that  he  was  in  the  Mission, 
though  the  school  was  not  in  progress  at  that 
time,  he  became  greatly  interested  and  evi- 


286          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

dently  determined  that  later  lie  would  come 
and  enter  the  school.  When  his  master  left 
Kambove,  he  asked  to  be  released  and  came  at 
once  to  us.  To  his  eyes  the  school  was  the 
best  thing  in  sight,  and  he  confessed  later  to 
a  heart  hungering  that  had  troubled  him.  His 
decision  to  enter  the  school,  as  in  so  many 
other  cases,  practically  involved  the  decision 
to  turn  to  Christ,  which  he  did  soon  after 
definitely  joining  us.  He  had  no  money  with 
which  to  pay  his  fee  and  so  had  to  work  it  out. 
He  was  so  promising  a  youth  that  soon  I  took 
him  from  the  work  of  building  and  put  him 
into  the  house  as  bedroom  boy.  He  soon 
advanced  to  the  responsibilities  of  cook. 
While  he  was  working  out  his  fee  we  had  a 
visit  from  Mr.  Campbell,  of  the  Plymouth 
Brethren  Mission,  whose  station  was  on  Lake 
Benguelo  among  Kauseni's  people.  When  Mr. 
Campbell  left  us  for  his  home,  Kauseni  was 
seized  with  homesickness  and  a  great  desire 
to  join  him  and  return  to  his  people,  but  Mr. 
Campbell  would  not  hear  to  it.  He  was  not 
going  to  take  boys  away  from  our  school  nor 
to  allow  this  boy  to  change  his  purpose  simply 
because  of  his  visit.  One  object  which  we 
hope  to  accomplish  through  the  requirement 
of  the  entrance  fee  is  the  development  of  a 


A  BUNCH  OF  OUR  BOYS  287 

persistence  of  purpose  in  the  boys.  Kauseni 
listened  to  the  admonitions  of  Mr.  Campbell 
as  well  as  of  ourselves,  and  soon  settled  con- 
tentedly to  his  work  and  is  developing  splen- 
didly in  the  school. 

Weka  is  also  of  the  Ngoni  tribe,  and  has  a 
very  forceful  personality.  He  had  worked  for 
four  years  along  the  railroad  construction  and 
in  the  mines,  and  for  the  larger  part  of  that 
time  had  been  a  capita,  that  is,  a  trusty  work- 
man and  overseer.  He  had  had  no  schooling 
and  realized  his  handicap  in  competition  with 
many  mission  young  men  who  had  been  asso- 
ciated with  Mm  in  those  years.  There  had 
also  arisen  in  him  a  great  hungering  for  some- 
thing which  was  not  satisfied  in  his  present 
life.  One  day  a  friend  of  his  by  the  name  of 
Jim  went  down  to  Elisabethville  and  told  him 
that  Bwana  (Master)  Springer  had  opened  a 
school  at  Kambove,  and  asked  him  why  he 
did  not  go.  Weka  thought  a  moment  or  two 
and  said,  "I  will  go.  I  have  a  box  full  of  good 
clothes  and  I  have  money,  but  my  heart  is  not 
satisfied." 

Not  long  after  I  saw  him  come  onto  the 
grounds  early  one  morning  with  his  tin  box 
on  his  shoulder  and,  setting  it  down,  he  came 


288          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

to  me.  In  reply  to  my  question  as  to  what  he 
wanted,  he  said  he  wished  to  enter  the  school. 
I  told  him  to  come  and  see  me  later  at  the 
office.  When  I  explained  to  him  the  condi- 
tions under  which  he  must  enter  the  school, 
he  said  that  he  understood  them  all,  and  at 
once  took  out  four  English  sovereigns  to  pay 
his  entrance  fee.  He  then  gave  me  five  pounds 
(twenty-five  dollars)  to  send  to  the  govern- 
ment official  near  his  home  to  place  in  the 
hands  of  his  wife  and  a  young  brother  that 
they  might  come  and  join  him  at  the  Mission. 
He  wished  both  to  enter  the  school. 

Weka's  decision  to  come  to  school  had  evi- 
dently also  been  associated  with  a  determina- 
tion to  heed  all  the  teachings  of  the  mission- 
ary, for  not  long  after  his  arrival  he  an- 
nounced that  he  was  going  to  walk  in  the  way 
of  Jesus.  In  giving  his  testimony  and  in  pray- 
ing, as  well  as  in  all  his  life,  Weka  manifests 
the  utmost  seriousness  and  earnestness,  at  the 
same  time  that  he  is  of  a  jovial,  fun-loving 
disposition. 

In  due  time  we  heard  from  the  government 
official  to  the  effect  that  Weka's  wife  had  not 
been  faithful  to  him,  but  had  become  the  wife 
of  another  man.  I  called  Weka  one  afternoon 
and  told  him  the  word  I  had  received.  Mother 


fc  3  " 

o  •«  M 

^  § 

S  1-5  V 


sL 

^ 

v    H 


I 

W 

•<   ^ 


05  ^ 
«"g 

^  « 

E"  ^ 
§   § 

I  a 

s  « 


A  BUNCH  OF  OUR  BOYS  289 

Miller,  who  was  sitting  near,  thought,  of 
course,  that  Weka  would  be  terribly  upset  over 
the  news.  What  was  her  surprise  when  he 
turned  and  said,  "Longili"  (all  right),  and 
went  down  the  hill  whistling.  When  asked 
later  what  he  would  do,  he  said,  "I  will  go 
home  and  make  that  other  man  pay  me  back 
my  four  cattle  that  I  gave  for  her,  so  that  I 
can  have  them  in  securing  another  wife." 
Weka  wanted  to  have  the  two  children  by  this 
wife  come  to  him,  but  learned  later  that  they 
had  died  during  an  epidemic  of  smallpox. 

Weka,  who  was  about  thirty-five  years  of 
age,  was  one  of  the  older  of  the  native  work- 
men along  the  railroad  construction,  most  of 
them  being  young  unmarried  fellows.  In  the 
majority  of  cases  they  had  come  out  from  their 
homes  to  earn  enough  money  to  buy  wives. 
When  a  married  man  leaves  his  home  for  a 
year  or  more,  it  is  very  common  on  returning 
to  find  that,  as  happened  in  Weka's  case,  his 
wife  has  been  married  to  another  man.  This 
constitutes  one  of  the  great  problems  that 
must  be  faced  in  Central  Africa,  and  will  re- 
quire the  cooperation  of  the  three  great 
agencies  in  Africa — the  Church,  the  Govern- 
ment, and  the  industrial  agencies  that  recruit 
and  employ  these  men. 


290          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

Although  Weka  had  been  an  overseer  for 
years,  on  coming  to  the  Mission  he  took  his 
place  among  the  other  boys,  doing  the  hum- 
blest work  of  the  compound  and  of  the  Mis- 
sion, but  we  have  found  him  very  useful  in 
supervising  some  of  the  younger  boys.  He 
feels  a  great  responsibility  in  helping  to  keep 
order  in  the  compound,  and  does  not  hesitate 
to  administer  chastisement  to  some  of  the 
young  upstarts  who  forget  their  places. 

Matenteko  was  our  cross.  He  had  had  no 
schooling,  but  was  blest  with  plenty  of  egoism. 
His  employers  had  mostly  been  Belgians,  and 
he  evidently  had  been  allowed  to  argue  the 
point  with  them  and  to  tell  them  how  to  run 
the  house,  to  do  the  work,  etc.  When  he  came 
to  the  school  he  wanted  to  do  the  same  with 
me.  I  have  had  a  number  of  pupils  who 
wished  to  tell  me  how  to  run  the  school,  but 
never  in  such  a  marked  degree  as  Matenteko. 
When  he  wanted  to  argue  a  case,  and  I  would 
quietly  tell  him  that  the  point  was  not  de- 
batable, he  would  go  away  and  talk  it  over  at 
great  length  to  himself  and  to  any  one  who 
would  listen  to  him.  As  we  had  taken  him 
into  the  house  for  work,  he  became  a  great 
trial  to  Mrs.  Springer. 


A  BUNCH  OF  OUR  BOYS  291 

Matenteko  had  great  ambitions.  Long  be- 
fore coming  to  us  he  had  been  investing  his 
money  in  things  more  or  less  needless  to  him, 
evidently  with  the  idea  that  these  accessories 
would  bring  him  on  the  same  level  with  the 
white  man.  He  purchased  a  folding  cot,  a 
table,  and  a  chair,  and  to  crown  all,  he  had 
purchased  from  one  of  his  masters  a  large 
frock  coat,  in  which  his  small  figure  was 
entirely  enveloped.  These  things  he  brought 
with  him.  Oftentimes  missions  are  criticized 
by  the  man  on  the  street,  saying  that  we 
encourage  our  boys  to  dress  up  in  European 
clothes,  and  that  this  results  in  their  having 
an  exaggerated  idea  of  their  importance,  and 
that  we  encourage  them  in  this  idea.  But 
Matenteko  is  a  shining  example  of  the  fact 
that  these  boys  get  these  clothes  and  these 
ideas  entirely  apart  from  any  contact  with 
the  Mission.  It  was  our  painful  duty  to  take 
Matenteko  in  hand,  and  to  seek  to  rid  him  of 
these  absurd  ideas.  He  will  be  much  easier 
to  deal  with  when  many  of  his  ideas  gained 
from  the  years  of  contact  with  the  Europeans 
before  he  came  to  the  Mission  are  changed. 
He  was  the  one  boy  in  our  group  that  we  often 
felt  we  could  dispense  with  without  sorrow, 
but  at  the  same  time  we  felt  that  he  was  a  part 


292          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

of  our  work  and  that  we  could  not  dispose  of 

him. 

> 

Mubita  was  one  of  the  two  young  men  that 
came  from  near  Victoria  Falls,  eight  hundred 
miles  southwest,  and  joined  our  school  out  in 
the  woods  at  Lukoshi,  and  the  one  baptized 
by  Bishop  Hartzell.  He  was  an  earnest,  hard- 
working pupil,  but  not  brilliant  as  a  student. 
When  I  excused  Jacob  and  Peter  and  James 
for  months,  in  order  that  they  might  hunt  up 
some  wives,  my  main  helper  was  Mubita.  He 
had  left  a  wife  at  home  and  expects  some  time 
to  go  back  to  see  if  she  is  still  faithful  to  him. 
If  so,  he  will  probably  bring  her  to  the 
Katanga.  At  his  home  he  has  a  number  of 
head  of  cattle,  so  that  from  a  native  point  of 
view  he  is  quite  well  off.  Even  though  still  in 
the  middle  of  his  course,  he  is  very  useful  in 
teaching  and  evangelizing,  also  as  a  colporteur 
for  the  Book  Store. 

Nelson  was  a  bright  young  lad  from  the 
Congregational  Mission  (English)  a  few  hun- 
dred miles  to  the  east  of  Kambove.  He  came 
out  to  the  mining  district  to  earn  money  and 
at  first  had  a  good  deal  of  sickness.  He  had 
found  no  place  that  looked  like  home  to  him 


A  BUNCH  OF  OUR  BOYS  293 

until  he  reached  our  Mission.  We  soon  em- 
ployed him  as  a  house  boy,  and  on  the  arrival 
of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Guptill  he  was  employed  in 
their  kitchen.  He  also  became  their  teacher 
in  the  Chiwemba,  and  acted  as  general  inter- 
preter as  well.  He  was  a  bright  young  fellow, 
but  inclined  to  be  heady.  However,  he  soon 
settled  down.  Lately  he  has  been  wanting  to 
qualify  as  a  teacher  and  evangelist  in  connec- 
tion with  our  Mission.  He  is  one  of  four  boys 
in  this  group  that  have  been  connected  with 
four  different  mission  societies  before  they 
came  to  the  Katanga  to  find  work.  There  are 
many  partly  trained  boys  whose  lives  are  go- 
ing to  waste  along  railroad  construction  and 
whom  we  are  hoping  to  reach,  and  are  reach- 
ing, and  whom  we  will  utilize  in  the  work  of 
the  Kingdom. 

Kansamba  was  distinctly  one  of  the  lesser 
lights  of  the  Mission.  He  was  brought  to  us 
by  his  parents  at  Lukoshi.  He  was  defective 
in  his  hearing,  and  this  had  affected  his  de- 
velopment so  much  that  in  the  village  he  was 
fast  drifting  toward  idiocy.  He  was  really 
very  bright  and  needed  only  the  care  and 
attention  of  kind  hearts  to  develop  into  a  nor- 
mal boy.  He  had  special  gifts  in  writing, 


294          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

drawing,  etc.  Thousands  of  boys  like  Mni  are 
lost  in  the  villages  of  Central  Africa  because 
no  one  understands  them  and  no  one  knows 
how  to  remedy  their  defects. 

Mugala  was  really  not  of  our  school.  He 
came  to  us  through  the  night  school,  saying 
that  he  wanted  to  remain  with  us  for  a  few 
years,  but  the  fascination  of  the  old  life  in 
town  was  too  much  for  him.  He  evidently  had 
no  deep-seated  desire  to  change  his  life.  We 
discovered  that  he  was  unreliable  and  inclined 
to  be  a  thief.  When  spoken  to  about  these 
matters  he  declared  that  he  did  not  care  to 
enter  school,  and  so  he  went  away  from  the 
Mission,  despite  our  efforts  to  influence  and 
to  keep  him. 

Ngamba  is  the  slave  boy  mentioned  as  being 
bought  for  a  plate  of  meal  by  one  of  Kayeka's 
carriers  as  they  were  coming  through  the 
famine  country.  On  their  arrival  at  Lukoshi 
I  noticed  that  he  watched  me  intently  at  any- 
thing that  I  was  doing.  He  was  very  keen  to 
learn  and  showed  great  aptitude  for  machinery 
and  for  all  kinds  of  industrial  work.  Among 
the  people  of  Central  Africa  are  to  be  found 
the  rudiments  of  all  the  arts  and  industries. 


A  BUNCH  OF  OUR  BOYS  295 

They  are  more  or  less  adepts  in  the  working 
of  iron,  in  wood-carving,  decorating,  etc.,  to 
say  nothing  of  the  great  industry  of  agricul- 
ture. 

Ngamba  was  the  most  willing  person  when 
working  along  the  lines  of  his  interest  and 
desire.  When  traveling  on  the  path  I  found 
him  the  best  runner  to  keep  along  with  the 
bicycle,  and  to  be  on  hand  for  any  errands  I 
wanted  done.  But  at  times  he  was  as  stub- 
born as  a  donkey.  We  soon  took  him  into  the 
house  as  a  servant.  One  great  difficulty  with 
him  was  that  he  loved  to  wear  his  old,  dirty 
clothes,  though  he  had  plenty  of  good  clean 
ones.  Admonition  was  not  sufficient  in  his 
case.  At  times  I  had  to  take  him  to  his  hut 
and  fairly  take  his  old  clothes  off  and  have 
them  destroyed.  He  was  very  bright  in  his 
school  work  and  in  general  he  has  been  very 
reliable  and  gives  promise  of  great  usefulness 
in  the  future. 

Mulaya,  otherwise  Joab,  as  we  dubbed  him 
to  distinguish  him  from  Malaya,  would  cer- 
tainly take  the  prize  as  the  ugliest  boy  in 
school,  but  he  would  also  take  the  prize  for 
being  the  most  willing  of  spirit.  He  came  first 
to  the  night  school  near  the  railroad  station, 


296          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

and  declared  his  intention  of  entering  the 
boarding  school.  There  was  some  money 
owing  him  along  railroad  construction  and  he 
went  up  to  collect  it.  His  creditor  disclaimed 
the  debt  and  threw  him  into  a  fire,  burning  his 
knees  and  elbows.  Missing  him  for  several 
evenings  at  the  night  school,  I  asked  a  friend 
about  him,  and  was  told  that  he  was  lying 
with  his  wounds  in  a  hut  not  far  away.  I 
found  him  with  several  large  sores  from  the 
burns,  and  had  him  brought  into  the  Mission 
at  once  and  attended  to  him.  Soon  he  was  on 
the  way  to  recovery. 

He  had  no  money  with  which  to  pay  the  fee, 
but  cheerfully  went  to  work  for  five  months 
to  pay  it  off.  He  continued  his  studies  at 
the  night  school  during  this  period,  and  was 
ever  ready  to  assume  large  responsibilities  in 
seeing  that  everything  went  on  well. 

The  boys  took  much  pleasure  in  escorting 
Mother  Miller  to  her  house,  and  Joab  was 
always  on  hand  to  take  over  her  books,  carry 
the  lantern,  and  see  her  safely  home,  even 
though  he  might  be  assisted  by  several  others. 
He  was  some  distance  from  his  home,  which 
was  near  Broken  Hill,  belonging  to  the  same 
tribe  as  James,  and  was,  as  far  as  we  know,  the 
third  boy  of  that  tribe  to  go  to  school.  To  us 


A  BUNCH  OF  OUR  BOYS  297 

he  was  always  most  obedient,  but  among  his 
peers  in  the  compound  he  always  stood  up  for 
his  full  rights,  and  would  allow  no  imposition 
upon  them  without  protest.  Another  young 
lad  there  about  the  same  age  was  very  heady 
and  cheeky,  and  was  constantly  trying  to  lord 
it  over  Joab.  There  was  almost  a  daily  neces- 
sity of  separating  these  two,  as  they  were 
attempting  to  settle  their  disputes.  He  has 
the  stuff  of  which  efficient,  reliable  workers 
are  made. 

It  is  often  a  puzzle  to  some  people  as  to  why 
missionaries  are  so  keen  to  get  back  to  their 
respective  fields.  I  wonder  if  in  the  recital  of 
these  cases  there  is  not  an  answer  to  that  ques- 
tion. The  Mission  constitutes  the  only  chance 
and  hope  for  better  things  for  these  boys.  Had 
it  not  been  for  our  coming  to  Kambove  at  this 
time,  there  would  have  been  no  schooling  for 
any  of  them.  As  we  see  their  hearts  and  lives 
respond  and  see  them  transformed  from  wild, 
willful,  selfish  individuals  into  efficient  work- 
ers for  the  Kingdom,  is  it  any  wonder  that  we 
are  keen  to  remain  at  our  task  and  to  serve 
those  in  whom  we  find  such  large  returns  for 
our  investment  of  life  and  endeavor? 


CHAPTER  XXI 
AS  TO  THE  FUTURE 

THAT  a  great  future  industrially  lies  im- 
mediately before  Africa,  no  informed  person 
can  doubt  To-day  African  exports  of  gold,  of 
diamonds,  and  of  copper  figure  largely  in  the 
world's  totals.  Fruit,  corn,  hides,  rubber, 
ostrich  feathers,  hardwoods,  copal,  from  all 
parts  of  this  vast  continent,  find  their  way  in 
large  quantities  to  nearly  all  markets,  and  this 
is  but  the  beginning.  Men  who  know  the  vari- 
ous sections  well  are  continually  remarking 
that  the  resources  of  the  continent  have  been 
merely  scratched. 

So  inaccessible  by  water  is  the  interior  that 
this  vast  continent  has  had  to  await  the  rail- 
road age  for  its  development  and  for  the  out- 
pouring of  its  fabulous  wealth.  Up  to  the 
present,  the  steel  rails  have  crept  inland  from 
a  few  ports  and  the  beginning  of  linking  them 
into  one  vast  system  in  the  interior  has  been 
made. 

Sir  Harry  H.  Johnston,  experienced  adminis- 
298 


As  TO  THE  FUTURE  299 

trator  of  various  colonies,  and  the  well-known 
author  of  several  informing  volumes  on  Africa, 
in  speaking  before  the  Koyal  Geographical  So- 
ciety of  Great  Britain  in  June,  1915,  spoke  of 
"The  Coming  Discovery  of  Africa,"  in  these 
words : 

"When  the  trouble  of  the  war  is  over  the 
real  discovery  of  Africa  will  begin.  We  have 
only  so  far  set  out  Africa  with  tolerable  cor- 
rectness on  the  map  and  glanced  with  an  in- 
quiring and  scientific  eye  on  its  surface  in 
some  small  portions.  These  investigations 
from  1884  onwards  revealed  or  suggested  such 
astonishing  sources  of  wealth  to  humanity  that 
they  have  stimulated  that  colonial  movement 
in  regard  to  Africa  which  lies  at  the  base  of 
the  present  war.  What  has  been  revealed, 
however,  is  probably  trifling  compared  to 
what  remains  to  be  discovered.  I  venture  to 
predict  that  a  good  deal  of  the  area  of  the 
Sahara  Desert  will  be  found  to  be  rich  in  oil- 
bearing  strata,  and  some  of  its  mountains  and 
plateaux  on  the  verge  of  the  Sudan  wealthy  in 
copper  and  perhaps  in  tin;  that  the  mineral 
wealth  of  Somaliland,  of  Abyssinia,  of  the 
Nile-Congo  water-parting,  of  Darfur,  of  Ka- 
tanga above  all,  of  Eastern  Angola,  of  Liberia, 
of  Rhodesia,  Portuguese  East  Africa,  Nyasa- 


300          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

land  and  the  northern  and  central  Cameroons 
will  eventually  justify  the  vague  surmises  or 
the  actual  predictions  of  prospectors.  In 
regard  to  this  branch  of  research  I  should  like 
to  call  attention  to  the  really  valuable  reports 
issued  from  time  to  time  by  the  Imperial  In- 
stitute, because  they  have  justified  my  predic- 
tions in  the  past.  Then  there  are  the  sources 
of  vegetable  wealth  in  the  wild  produce  of  the 
forest,  or  in  the  climate  and  soil  needed  for 
plantations.  There  is  the  oil-palm,  the  produce 
of  which  can  now  be  utilized  to  any  extent 
without  much  fear  of  its  depreciation  in  value 
through  over-production.  Kubber,  coffee, 
cocoa,  sugar,  pineapples,  bananas,  oranges, 
even  apples,  peaches,  plums,  and  grapes  are 
becoming  items  of  importance  already  in  Afri- 
can exports.  As  regards  animal  products, 
something  really  intelligent  in  the  way  of 
elephant  conservation  may  keep  the  world 
sufficiently  supplied  with  ivory.  Vast  tracts 
of  Africa  are  already  being  opened  up  for 
cattle-breeding  and  horse-breeding.  Once  the 
French  get  to  work  with  their  trans-Saharan 
railway  or  railways,  and  once  there  is  assured 
peace  in  trans-Zambezian  Africa,  an  enormous 
increase  will  take  place  in  African  exports  of 
mineral,  vegetable,  and  animal  produce. 


As  TO  THE  FUTURE  301 

"I  have  only  attempted  to  give  a  general  im- 
pression of  the  known  wealth  of  Africa  and  its 
location.  But  I  should  like  to  point  out  that 
the  most  recent  results  of  exploring  Africa 
have  led  to  some  of  its  deserts  proving  more 
valuable  than  regions  obviously  fertile  and  at- 
tractive to  the  eye.  The  high  veldt  and  the 
northern  Karoo  in  South  Africa,  Namaqua- 
land  and  many  parts  of  the  northern  Sahara 
were  regarded  as  hopeless,  eternally  desolate, 
and  worthless  tracts  of  country  a  few  years 
ago,  which  would  never  pay  for  opening  up. 
Now  they  turn  out  annually  millions  of 
pounds'  worth  of  diamonds  or  copper,  of  phos- 
phates and  other  mineral  manures,  or  yield 
obvious  indications  of  oil-bearing  strata  below 
the  surface.  The  desolate  thorny  Haud  of 
Somaliland,  dreary,  treeless,  waterless  tracts 
in  East  Africa,  are  either  oil-bearing  or  have 
valuable  deposits  of  soda  or  phosphates.  Much 
of  the  Sahara  Desert  will  prove  worth  railway 
construction  on  account  of  its  phosphates,  its 
salt,  and  its  petroleum.  My  map  of  great  rail- 
ways of  the  future  represents  with  scarcely 
an  addition  or  exaggeration  the  existing  rail- 
ways and  the  published  railway  projects  of 
Africa  in,  let  us  say,  July,  1914.  Unless  West- 
ern and  Eastern  Europe  emerge  utterly  bank- 


302          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

rupt  from  this  devastating  war,  we  may  per- 
missibly imagine  that  they  will  next  put  their 
capital^  not  into  the  making  of  further  arma- 
ments to  destroy  one  another,  ~but  into  the  war- 
fare against  hostile  and  grudging  Nature.  And 
in  this  struggle  our  most  potent  arm  is  the 
railway.  Also  there  is  no  agent  so  pacifying 
as  the  railway.  If  some  advisers  had  been 
listened  to  in  1901-3  we  should  not  have  wasted 
about  four  million  sterling  in  warring  against 
the  Mad  Mullah  in  the  deserts  of  British  Soma- 
liland,  but  we  should  have  built  a  railway 
through  some  part  of  that  country.  Such  an 
enterprise  at  once  captures  the  imagination 
of  the  savage,  or  the  semi-savage,  and  at  the 
same  time  provides  wages  for  restless  avari- 
cious warriors.  It  will  be  noticed  on  my  map 
that  there  may  be  two  alternative  routes  from 
the  Cape  to  Cairo:  one  through  Katanga 
(nearly  complete  now  as  far  north  as  Stanley 
Falls),  the  Bahr-el-ghazal  and  el-Obeid;  and 
the  other  through  Nyasaland,  past  the  .Victoria 
N!yanza  to  the  lower  Sobat  and  Khartoum. 
But  people  in  South  Africa  who  want  not  only 
variety  of  route  and  perhaps  an  even  quicker 
way  of  reaching  Britain  (or,  vice  versa,  those 
among  our  grand-children  who  wish  to  pro- 
ceed to  Cape  Town  by  rail  in  preference  to  the 


As  TO  THE  FUTURE  303 

riskier  airship)  are  recommended  to  try  the 
Tangier- Fez- Agades-Kano-Leopoldville  line. 
This  will  consist  of  the  French  Trans-Saharan 
railway  (already  completed  nearly  as  far  as 
Igli),  and  will  link  up  with  a  great  number  of 
coast  railways  already  constructed  in  West, 
West-Central,  and  South- West  Africa.  'Tan- 
gier to  Cape  Town  without  changing !'  WThat 
a  splendid  achievement  that  will  be!  Very 
likely  by  then  we  shall  have  got  the  Channel 
railway  tunnel  in  working  order,  and  a  steam- 
ferry  will  take  the  London  train  from  Alge- 
ciras  to  Tangier;  so  that  conceivably  forty  or 
fifty  years  from  now  we  may  be  able  to  get 
into  our  'sleeper'  at  Victoria  (London)  and 
emerge  from  a  delightful  unbroken  train  jour- 
ney in  a  glorified  Cape  Town — a  city  which 
Nature  has  destined  to  be  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  in  the  world ;  a  city  which  is  the  only 
appropriate  capital  for  United  South  Africa." 
Our  Congo  Mission  area  includes  nearly  all 
of  the  mineral  region  referred  to  above  as 
"Katanga  above  all,"  with  its  deposits  of  cop- 
per, iron,  lime,  tin,  gold,  and  its  vast  water- 
power  possibilities.  The  Cape-to-Cairo  Rail- 
road, connecting  with  six  South  and  East  Afri- 
can ports,  traverses  our  eastern  border  for  five 
hundred  miles,  and  soon  will  have  connections 


304          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

i 

with  at  least  five  other  ports  on  the  east,  the 
west,  and  the  north  coasts.  What  Chicago, 
"the  city  that  cannot  be  avoided,"  is  to 
America,  that  the  Katanga — our  Congo  Mis- 
sion area — will  be  to  Africa,  the  junction  point 
of  the  great  Continental  Kailways.  And 
happy  is  the  fact  that  this  section  is  blessed 
with  a  salubrious  climate,  possessing  an  eleva- 
tion from  three  thousand  to  five  thousand  feet 
above  sea  level,  and  a  mean  annual  tempera- 
ture of  about  eighty  degrees. 

A  stable  European  government  exists  and  is 
assured  for  the  future.  The  industrial-com- 
mercial development  is  proceeding  and  is  cer- 
tain to  increase  rapidly.  What  about  the 
educational,  moral,  social,  and  religious  needs 
of  the  millions  of  untutored,  backward,  imita- 
tive natives  whose  cooperation  in  all  the  de- 
velopment of  Africa  is  absolutely  essential  and 
really  for  their  good — if  under  favorable  condk 
tions? 

The  dangers  that  lie  ahead  can  be  seen  from 
the  experience  of  Johannesburg  and  vicinity, 
where  on  mines  and  in  towns  four  hundred 
thousand  native  workmen  are  continually  cen- 
tralized. These  come  from  every  part  of  the 
sub-continent,  and  even  from  Central  Africa. 
The  majority  engage  for  labor  during  limited 


As  TO  THE  FUTURE  305 

periods  of  six  months  to  a  year,  and  then 
return  to  their  homes ;  others  in  large  numbers 
are  settling  permanently  in  the  towns,  either 
bringing  their  wives  from  their  former  homes, 
or  else  picking  up  girls  and  women  in  town, 
but  in  many  cases  forming  no  permanent 
domestic  relations.  These  natives  are  wage 
earners  almost  without  exception  and  are  ad- 
vancing rapidly  in  industrial  ability  and  in 
earning  power.  They  have  a  limited  number 
of  needs,  and  so  have  considerable  money  to 
spend.  Vicious  white  men  prey  upon  them, 
pandering  to  their  weaknesses,  to  their  lusts, 
and  to  their  vanity.  The  sale  of  European 
liquors  to  natives  is  prohibited  by  law,  but  on 
the  Rand  illicit  liquor  selling  is  an  extensive 
and  thriving  business.  Recently  there  were  at 
one  time  six  hundred  European  prisoners  in 
jail  in  Johannesburg  on  charges  of  this  illicit 
liquor  selling  to  natives — to  say  nothing  of 
those  still  at  large.  There  is  a  commingling  of 
members  of  the  black  and  white  races  in  vice, 
involving  both  sexes  of  both  races  in  and  about 
Johannesburg,  that  is  absolutely  revolting  to 
learn  about,  to  say  nothing  of  having  to  face 
in  actuality. 

Johannesburg    is    rightly    considered    the 
greatest  and  most  important,  as  well  as  the 


306          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

strategic  mission  center  in  South  Africa. 
Similarly,  and  for  the  same  reasons,  the  min- 
eral district  within  the  Congo  Mission  area 
is  and  will  be  increasingly  the  strategic  mis- 
sion field  of  Central  Africa. 

Johannesburg  is  the  greatest  industrial  and 
manual  training  center  in  the  subcontinent, 
and  the  native  workmen  are  continually  being 
raised  to  greater  degrees  of  efficiency  in  the 
efforts  of  the  mines  to  reduce  the  working 
costs.  As  a  result  the  native  employees  are 
advancing  to  more  and  more  responsible  posi- 
tions and  better  paid  jobs.  A  similar  process 
is  already  at  work  on  these  mines  in  the 
Katanga. 

Johannesburg  has  also  been  justly  termed 
a  "University  of  Crime,"  despite  the  presence 
of  many  good  citizens  and  not  a  few  mission 
workers  in  the  vicinity.  Likewise  this  Ka- 
tanga mineral  field  is  a  school  of  crime,  of 
lewdness,  and  of  many  forms  of  evil,  and  will 
be  so  increasingly  unless  the  forces  of  right- 
eousness become  active  and  make  impossible 
the  development  of  conditions  similar  to  those 
which  obtain  in  the  older  mining  center. 

This  is  a  new  mining  area.  These  forces  of 
evil  are  as  yet  individual  and  occasional.  In 
the  Katanga  we  have  the  opportunity  of 


As  TO  THE  FUTURE  307 

almost  an  even  start.  It  remains  to  be  seen 
whether  the  forces  of  evil  will  be  allowed  an 
unhindered,  uncontested  opportunity  of  becom- 
ing firmly  established  and  organized  as  they 
are  in  that  older  mining  center  of  South 
Africa,  or  whether  there  will  be  leaders  for 
righteousness  on  the  ground  to  watch,  to  warn, 
and  to  oppose,  aided  as  such  leaders  can  and 
would  be,  by  the  governmental  and  industrial 
forces  of  the  country.  Just  as  in  America  and 
in  Europe,  the  Church  must  furnish  the  rally- 
ing point  and  the  aggressive  campaigner  in 
the  fight  against  vice.  Will  we  meet  the  chal- 
lenge of  the  opportunity  and  have  our  men  at 
every  important  point  from  this  time  on,  that 
is,  at  Elisabethville,  Kambove,  Chilongo,  Bu- 
karna,  Kuwi,  Dilolo,  Kalonga,  and  elsewhere?' 
Most  people  agree  in  these  days  that  when 
everything  is  summed  up,  the  world  is,  on  the 
whole,  getting  better,  but  there  are  spots  that 
unquestionably  are  growing  worse,  and  the 
vicinities  of  many  of  these  industrial  centers 
are  among  these.  The  evil  forces  have  so  far 
predominated  over  the  good.  The  industrial 
and  commercial  development  of  Africa  is  pro- 
ceeding very  generally  throughout  the  conti- 
nent, and  is  many  fold  more  active  and  general 
than  is  the  work  of  missions.  "Civilization" 


308          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

as  represented  by  European  clothing  and  per- 
sonal effects,  by  stores,  by  bars,  by  better 
roads,  by  bicycles,  by  the  telegraph,  by  steel 
rails,  by  bricks  and  corrugated  iron,  by  the 
clock-regulated  whistle  of  the  mines  and  the 
shops,  is  impotent  to  hold  the  heart  of  the 
white  man  to  the  good  he  learned  in  his  youth, 
or  to  change  the  heart  of  the  dark  denizen  of 
the  woods  of  Central  Africa  to  the  better 
things  and  to  a  new  life. 

To  state  it  differently,  the  natives  of  Africa 
are  not  remaining  in  status  quo,  following  the 
comparatively  indifferent  customs  of  unre- 
lieved paganism,  but  through  the  partition  of 
Africa  among  the  powers  of  Europe,  through 
the  exploitation  of  the  resources  of  every  nook 
and  corner  of  the  continent,  through  the  com- 
mercial products  dumped  into  every  section 
of  the  land  from  all  parts  of  the  world,  the 
African  has  been  related  in  an  intimate  and 
vital  way  to  the  entire  world.  His  quiet  life 
in  the  village,  formerly  sufficient  of  itself  for 
all  his  needs,  has  been  rudely  overturned.  His 
tribal  tenure  of  land  has  been  bewilderingly 
interfered  with  and  restricted  and  in  essential 
respects  denied.  His  over-lords  demand 
strange  and  inexplicable  taxes  and  service, 
many  of  his  customs  have  been  forbidden,  re- 


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As  TO  THE  FUTURE  309 

straints  to  excess  and  youthful  folly  formerly 
exercised  by  the  parents  and  the  tribe  have 
been  swept  away  in  the  name  of  personal 
liberty,  and  the  virile  youth  of  the  tribes  have 
been  tempted  and  invited  to  Irng  absences 
from  home  to  labor  for  the  stranger.  To  this 
child  race  it  is  all  bewildering,  but  the  African 
is  rubbing  his  eyes,  he  is  awaking,  he  has  a 
happy  faculty  of  self -adjustment  to  new  condi- 
tions; his  philosophy  of  life  leads  him  to  ac- 
cept what  is  and  to  adapt  himself  to  the  cir- 
cumstances of  the  hour.  He  sees  that  the  old 
has  passed  away  or  is  passing ;  he  looks  to  see 
what  the  future  has  in  store. 

But  he  is  a  child:  he  has  no  chart  or  com- 
pass for  the  new  sea  of  life  upon  which  he  has 
been  thrust.  In  his  sky  there  shines  no  fixed 
North  Star  or  Southern  Cross  to  aid  him  in 
his  reckonings.  The  checks  that  primitive 
life  develops  are  being  left  behind  with  the 
crumbling  huts  in  the  forest.  New  tempta- 
tions, new  dangers,  new  vices  face  him  in  these 
new  and  strange  circumstances.  New  powers 
of  money,  new  ambitions,  and  new  ideals  greet 
him  in  the  new  Africa  of  to-day.  There  is  the 
meeting  of  aggressive,  powerful,  selfish,  com- 
mercial Europe  with  primitive,  scantily  clad, 
backward,  pagan  Africa.  For  the  solution  of 


310          PIONEERING  IN  THE  CONGO 

the  problems  that  have  arisen  in  this  connec- 
tion, there  is  required  a  program  that  con- 
siders and  provides  for  the  complex  needs  of 
the  individual,  of  the  family,  of  the  commu- 
nity, the  village,  and  tribe,  for  all  the  hours 
and  days  of  the  week,  and  that  serves  the 
physical,  the  mental,  the  social,  and  above  all 
the  religious  needs  of  all  these  units  and 
groups. 

Thus  thoroughly  inclusive  is  the  program 
that  is  required.  Nor  is  this  a  program  that 
can  be  fully  and  minutely  elaborated  in  ad- 
vance. "Each  institution  must  work  out  its 
problems  on  its  own  ground"  must  be  the  guid- 
ing principle  here  also.  The  need  is  for  men 
and  women  aware  of  the  experience  and  wis- 
dom of  the  Church  in  the  past  and  alive  to  the 
best  thought  and  methods  of  the  latest  day, 
living,  thinking,  evangelizing,  teaching,  guid- 
ing, and  training,  and  thus  meeting  the  total 
needs  of  the  various  groups.  And  full  recogni- 
tion needs  always  to  be  made  of  the  fact  that 
while  the  Church  is  the  distinctive  factor,  it  is 
not  the  only  factor  in  the  advancement  of  the 
Kingdom  of  God.  Government,  commerce,  and 
industry  all  have  their  part  to  play  in  the 
total  work  of  the  extension  of  the  Kingdom  of 
God  upon  earth.  The  officials  and  agents  of 


As  TO  THE  FUTURE  811 

these  other  factors  are  sometimes  conscious 
and  sometimes  unconscious  of  the  part  they 
do  play,  or  should,  in  this  program,  but  it 
is  a  notable  fact  that  many  of  them  gladly 
respond  to  the  leadership  of  the  ecclesiastical 
forces  for  the  betterment  of  society  and  the 
correcting  of  evil  conditions.  While  the  Congo 
Mission  represents  one  particular  denomina- 
tion in  this  field,  it  will  not  and  cannot  work 
merely  to  further  denominational  interests. 
The  natives  who  congregate  on  these  mines 
and  centers  are  from  the  areas  of  a  dozen 
different  denominations.  Those  who  are  con- 
verted and  join  our  church  will  be  given  letters 
to  their  several  churches  on  their  return  to 
their  homes.  And  we  request  those  denomina- 
tions who  have  members  coming  to  work  in  our 
field  to  give  their  young  men  church  letters. 

So  that  a  distinctly  Christian  rather  than 
denominational  work  has  been  begun,  a  work 
of  and  for  the  Kingdom.  And  to  such  a  policy 
and  to  such  a  program  the  Congo  Mission 
stands  committed. 

Much  of  the  "geographical  feat"  has  been 
accomplished  and  now  before  us  lies  the  great 
missionary  "enterprise."  Let  us  go  forward 
to  the  task  in  the  spirit  of  that  other  saying 
of  Livingstone's, 


"I  WILL  PLACE  NO  VALUE 

ON  ANYTHING  I  HAVE  OR  MAY 

POSSESS  EXCEPT  IN  RELATION  TO 

THE  KINGDOM  OP 

CHRIST" 


LIVINGSTONE'S  MONUMENT  AT   CHITAMBO'S,    N.   RHODESIA, 
WHERE  His  HEART  is  BURIED 


APPENDIX 


STATEMENT 

MADE   FROM   THE   AUDITED   ACCOUNTS   OP  THE 

CONGO  MISSION 

OF  THE 

METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 

FOR  THE  PERIOD  1910-1914 


RECEIPTS 

Special  Gifts  received  through 
the  Board  of  Foreign  Mis- 
sions  $15 

Special  Gifts  from  U.  S.  re- 
ceived on  the  field 

Dr.  Fox  Fund: 

Principal $2,700.00 

Interest 485.00 


357.32 
235.00 


From  J.  M.  Springer: 
For  Circular  Let- 
ters      $337.89 

For  Cyclostyle..      119.32 

Contributed  by  Europeans  in 
the  Belgian  Congo 

Value  of  Timber  and  other 
Building  Materials  received 
free  on  the  field 

Collections  (mostly  fron  na- 
tives)   

School  Fees  at  Kambove 

From  the  Board  for  Outgoing 
of  Dr.  and  Mrs. 
Piper $834.20 

Outfit  for  Pipers. . .      200 . 00 

Outgoing    of   Rev. 
and  Mrs.  Guptill  1,141.33 

Advance  on  Salary 
of  Dr.  Piper 408.96 

Received  from  two  Jews,  ap- 
plied as  original  capital  of 
Bookstore 


3,185.00 


457.21 
154.91 

704.35 

142.37 

190.00 


,584.49 
20.00 


$23,030.65 


EXPENDITURES 
Sixteen  years   of  missionary 

service  (salaries) $7,957.63 

Outgoing   of   seven   mission- 
aries   4,547.66 

Buildings — Lukoshi,     Mwata 

Yamvo,  Kambove 3,831 . 75 

Household  Furniture 676 . 36 

Station    Equipment,    organ, 

bicycle,  tent,  lantern,  etc. .  568.43 

Printing  Press 406.77 

Tools,  etc....' 870.44 

Itinerating 276.98 

Transportation 951.37 

Evangelists  and  Native  Help- 
ers   700.50 

Support  of  Pupils 1,311. 13 

Special  Women's  work 13 . 00 

Circular  Letters 402.63 

Taxes  and  Incidentals. 315 . 18 

Exchange,  etc 180.82 


Capital  furnished  Bookstore.         20.00 


$23,030.65 

JOHN  M.  SPKINGER, 

Treasurer. 


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Of  7KCEHTML  AFRICA 
MISSION  FIELD 


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